The Bodyguard
by etotheswan
Summary: Based on the 1992 Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner movie of the same name. Swan Queen
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I decided to try this because I saw a post on tumblr where someone said they'd love to read a SQ fic based on The Bodyguard. I've made some changes and obviously it's COMPLETELY AU. We'll see how you all like it. **

**Chapter 1**

"Do your hands shake all the time now?"

Adam Gold glances casually at Emma Swan, her blond hair cascading over her shoulders and over her dark red leather jacket. He smiles, his thin lips dry and almost cracking. "Only in the evening," he says while pouring two tumblers of MacCutcheon Whiskey, the decanter shaking against the glass of the tumblers. He hands the woman a glass and nods. "You didn't always look so calm, you know."

"Unemployment looks good on me," Emma remarks before taking a long drink of the whiskey. It burns on the way down, makes her smile, makes her happy for the briefest of moments.

"You know, I owe you for," he pauses, remembering the night Emma Swan changed everything, "for saving my life."

"Mr. President," she starts, but he's quick to cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I don't like that I've lost my best secret service agent. Are you sure you won't reconsider this leave… Change your mind?" Adam sits on the arm of the couch in the Oval Office of the West Wing in the White House. He looks down at his hands and then back up at the blonde. "It was nice having a woman on the force. One I could joke with and not have to answer to my wife about."

Emma lets out a small laugh as her face flushes red. "I do miss the First Lady."

"She misses you. Belle talks about you every day. How if you wouldn't have taken that bullet…"

"Mr. President," Emma says softly. She takes two steps towards the thin man on the arm of the couch and smiles. "It was my job. I did what anyone in my position would have done. I left the force because I just needed a break. I needed to take a moment and figure out my life. Figure out what I'm doing, where I'm going, who I am."

"I know," he says, his voice cracking with emotion. "Thank you, though. I mean it."

Emma lets out a small chuckle and then brings the glass up to her lips. "I believe you," she comments, her eyebrow arching, before draining the last of the liquid.

"What's next on your agenda?" Adam asks, standing and moving towards the liquor cart.

"Well," Emma takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I think I'm going to take a break for awhile. Go home to Chicago. I need it. Maybe read a book?"

Adam laughs, deep and hearty. "That sounds like a really good plan, Miss Swan. A really good plan."

* * *

><p>Two days later, Emma is unlocking the door to her Wrigleyville house, feeling relieved and excited about being home.<p>

"Swan!"

Emma turns, hand on the doorknob, other hand instantly shooting into the air. "Fritz! How's it goin'? How're the Cubbies doing?"

"Welcome home! They're losing! What's new?" Her large next door neighbor shouts from his front porch. "Maybe you're the good luck we need!"

"Gotta be better than a goat, eh?" Emma asks with a laugh. "Take care!" She rolls her eyes at the stack of mail and newspapers on the small table on the inside entryway next to the door. "Thanks a lot, Ruby," she mumbles, pushing open the door all the way. The house, though is surprisingly clean considering her roommate's typical untidiness. "Hello?" Emma waits a beat before repeating herself.

"Em?"

"Rubes? Where are you?"

"In the kitchen! Holy shit!"

Emma smiles as she lets her bags hit the floor with a thud and then closes the door behind her. She makes her way through the entryway and takes a right into the kitchen. "Hello there, roomie."

The tall, thin brunette drops the spatula she was holding and lunges at Emma, throwing her arms around the roommate she never thought would return. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," Emma starts when Ruby finally lets her go and she can breathe again. "I'm home. I'm… done."

"Wait. What do you mean, 'you're done?'" Ruby picks up the spatula and wipes it on the dishtowel and then continues to flip pancakes.

Emma takes a couple steps through the kitchen towards a cupboard and grabs a coffee mug. She fills it with the freshly brewed coffee and then leans against the countertop, taking a sip before saying softly, "Well, I left the Secret Service."

"Emma, oh, my God, why?"

"Ruby," Emma says softly. She tilts her head and shrugs her shoulders. "I got _shot_… I just… I needed a break."

"But you loved it."

Emma smiles before reaching over and grabbing a hot pancake. She takes a bite out of it and says with her mouth full, "Yeah, but I love you and Chicago more. So, believe me, I'm happy to be home."

* * *

><p>"Hey!"<p>

Emma doesn't open her eyes as she continues to sit on the chaise lounge chair on the back porch of the house. It's a beautiful day at the start of summer, her iPod is shuffling her 80's playlist, and it's the first time in months that Emma has been able to fully relax. And it feels _nice._ "What's up?"

"There's some guy here. Asking specifically for _Emma Swan_," Ruby drops her voice down an octave when she says Emma's name. "Looks professional," she says, pulling her head back in and then sliding the screen door closed. "What should I do?"

"Did you tell him that I'm not here?"

"I tried. He said he knows you're back in the city. Said he knows people that know. Maybe you need to consider an identity change?"

Emma lets out a deep sigh as she turns her head and looks at Ruby through the screen door. "Tell him I'm around back."

A minute later, she hears the wooden gate on the side of the yard open and slam shut, then a deep throat clearing, and finally a, "Miss Swan?"

She peels her eyes open and looks at the slender man standing in front of her on the ground. "What can I do for you?"

"I heard you were back in Chicago. I'm happy my sources were correct."

Emma smirks, shields her eyes from the sun. "Who are you, anyway?"

"My name is Sidney. Sidney Glass." He leans forward and reaches his hand out, but is only met with a halfhearted stare.

"What do you want?" Emma asks, leaning her head back on the headrest of the chair and closing her eyes again.

"I'm here to offer you a job. You'd be doing me a favor."

Emma lets out a chuckle. "I don't do favors anymore."

"I know, I know," the man says hurriedly. He takes a step towards the edge of the porch and turns, sitting down on the worn wood. "I just… This is big, Miss Swan. This is really big. And, well, August -"

"What about August?"

"He said to mention his name."

Emma sighs, shakes her head, licks her lips. "That isn't necessarily going to make this a _better _ meeting for you, Mr. Glass." She feels her resolve slipping slightly. "What's the job?"

"Regina Mills."

"Who?"

"Regina _Mills_? The _actress_? Don't tell me you haven't heard of her."

"Husband was murdered about 13 years ago? That one?"

Sidney purses his lips, hands on his hips and then nods his head. "Yeah. That one."

"What about her?"

"She needs, well, she needs _protection_."

"Hire a _bodyguard _then," Emma says dryly, her eyes still closed.

"Listen, I'm her manager and I need someone who is good and -"

She sighs, cutting off Sidney. "I don't protect celebrities."

Sidney stands and turns to face Emma. "So, you only protect people that lie without a script in front of them?"

Emma peels her eyes open and lifts her head from the headrest. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You protect politicians and presidents! Liars and _thieves_! Yet here's a woman that has a _son _and a career and you won't even consider it? August said you'd do it. That you're a good woman with a good head on your shoulders. Yet..." Sidney reaches for his necktie and loosens it before starting to roll up the sleeves of his light pink button down shirt. "Miss Mills needs protection. She's filming a new TV show here. Who knows if it'll even make it past the first season, Miss Swan, but this is really big."

Emma's resolve doesn't budge. "There are many good men for the job. I could give you a list the length of my arm."

"She _wants_ you."

"She doesn't even know me!"

Sidney looks up at the sky and then back down at Emma, tapping his toe on the ground. "She knows enough."

"Well, tough shit. I don't want the job."

"Would $2000 a week make it worth your while?"

"No," Emma laughs. "I already said. I don't protect celebrities. Why is that so hard to understand."

"Listen, Emma, can I call you Emma?"

Emma raises an eyebrow and looks Sidney in the eye. "Sure."

"She's scared. She's had some, I guess you could call it 'unwanted attention.'" Sidney looks down at his hands and then back at the blonde. "Haven't you ever been _scared_?"

Emma leans forward and stands up from the chaise lounge, thinking about his words. Yeah, she's been scared. Every day of her life she was scared protecting the president. And before he was the president, when he was a senator. Being scared is almost as easy to her as protecting people… as finding people. Emma squints her eyes as she looks at Sidney, _Don't Walk Away Renee _coming from her iPod speakers. "$3000."

"That's a bit steep," Sidney says, clearing his throat. "Are you really worth $3000?"

Emma jumps off the porch and lands on her feet gracefully. She walks over to a group of knives, bends over to pick up them up and smiles when she rises, making eye contact again with Sidney. "Watch and see," she says calmly. She eyes her target - an 8x8 white, wooden post in the ground, 50 paces away. She flips the first knife over in her hand, throws it, missing the target by a long shot. The knife careens to the left, slicing through a large hosta plant and hits the wooden privacy fence that surrounds the backyard.

"That's not really impressive," Sidney says with a huff.

Emma looks back at him, a smirk playing on her lips. "I wouldn't stand there," she remarks playfully. Sidney moves two steps and she shakes her head, "Or there." Turning her sights back to the target, she flips the next knife and throws.

Direct hit.

And again.

_And another one_.

Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She feels the breeze, hears the birds, Sidney breathing, can feel Ruby watching from the back room. With a final exhale, she throws the next knife and it hits in between all three of the others. She doesn't need to open her eyes to see the deadly hit, so she keeps them closed and waits one beat, two beats, three beats for Sidney's response.

"$3000 it is then. 10 am tomorrow. Don't be late. Here's the address."

Emma eyes the address. "Wait a second. This says Indiana?"

"Yeah. She's staying on a ranch."

"Like with corn?

"That's a _farm,_" Sidney says, sarcasm and disdain dripping from his words. "Don't get out much, do you?"

"So, there are animals? Like, large _animals_?" Emma asks with a laugh.

Sidney presses his lips together before a chuckle comes out of his mouth. "You know nothing about Regina Mills, do you?" He gauges the blonde's reaction before he puts his hand on the gate and pushes. "Might want to Google her before tomorrow. Have a good day, Miss Swan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Honestly, August, I really could have done without you 'throwing me a bone,' as you like to call it."

August lets out a hearty laugh over Emma's iPhone's headset and she rolls her eyes as she merges off of the Indiana Toll Road onto a typical county road. "You would have never survived without working and we both know it. You would have gone insane. This guy came into the bar looking for a good bodyguard and a good detective. I knew you were coming home. Calm down. It's easy money. It's not like you're gonna run into much. And she's staying all the way in _Indiana_? Last time I checked, Indiana was calm. It's nothing but cornfields."

"It doesn't matter," Emma says with a huff. "I do not need this right now. I was just starting to relax."

"Relax in the cornfields. God. Calm the fuck down, Em. You're so worked up these days. No wonder you were asked to leave the force."

"August!" Emma shouts, her voice laced with anger. "That is _not _funny. I was not _asked_ to leave."

"Alright, alright. Geesh."

"Well, I wasn't. President Gold didn't want me to leave. I didn't _want _to leave. I just… I needed to leave. I," Emma pauses and looks down at the GPS on her phone, "This is it. I gotta go. I'll talk to you later."

"If you even get a signal out there in hick-ville. Listen, if you can't reach me, try two tin cans and a piece of rope!"

"Nice, August. Real nice." Emma presses the disconnect button on the headset and rips it out of her ear as she pulls onto the dirt road. It is narrow, just wide enough for one car, and winds around, the trees surrounding the road, hanging over it, shielding it from the sunlight. There are a couple of pull offs where cars coming the opposite direction can pull over to let you pass. Emma notices as she's slowing down a road off towards the right where there's an old rust colored Ford Bronco parked. She slows almost to a stop before she decides it's nothing and keeps going. Her yellow VW bug handles just fine on the gravel as she comes to a stop at the giant metal gate that surrounds the property. She rolls the window the rest of the way down and inspects the intercom.

"Jesus," she whispers. The wires of the intercom are exposed and the actual unit looks like it's from the 1940's. She presses the button and waits for a response.

"Hello?" comes the staticky reply.

"Hello, Emma Swan to see Miss Mills," she almost shouts. She waits a beat and then hears the popping and hissing of the response asking her to repeat herself. "The Little Mermaid to see Miss Mills!"

"Oh, okay, do you have an appointment?"

Emma rolls her eyes and looks around her empty car as if to say, _really?_ "Yeah, when the sun sets on the third day," she says with an attitude.

"Okay, come on in."

The gate starts opening slowly, leaving Emma in her car with her mouth hanging open. "What the fuck?"

_Step one - new intercom system._

She pulls through the gate and watches in her rear view mirror as the gate closes. She catches a glimpse of some tail lights and flips around in her seat to get a better view. _Shit. _Whoever that was, she missed it.

The drive to the house proves to be uneventful. Lots of trees, a windy driveway, the bushes need to be trimmed. It looks like this property needs some serious work done to the outside.

But as she pulls up to the house, she can't help but stare. She's used to big houses. She worked at the White House, for Christ's sake.

But this house?

Holy _shit_.

When she parks her bug and gets out, she's greeted by a beautiful Dalmatian that immediately jumps on her and starts licking. "Pongo!" a red headed man shouts from behind a very fancy, black Rolls-Royce. "I'm so sorry, miss," he says, apologizing as he continues to wax the car.

"It's not a problem."

"Can I help you?" he asks, his eyes never leaving her, taking in her skinny jeans and brown boots skeptically.

"Yes, my name is Briar Rose. I'm here to see Regina Mills."

The red headed man looks at the house then back at Emma, tilts his head and then points. "She's that way."

Emma nods, smiles at the man and then takes the steps two at a time up to the front door.

_Step two: educate people on 'may I see your ID?'_

When she gets to the door, she pushes the rolled up sleeves of her lightweight, red plaid, button-down shirt up to her biceps and tries to calm herself down. She's not really nervous. She doesn't get nervous about these types of interviews, which is really what this meeting is. Even if they think they're interviewing her. Really, Emma is the one interviewing them. She's out of her element and dammit, she doesn't want to do this job at all. So, if she's not comfortable, she's going to bail. She already decided as she flew down the Toll Road with the wind whipping through her hair.

After a few seconds of waiting, the door eventually opens, and a young boy holding a tattered copy of a Thor comic book is standing there, a worn baseball cap pulled down on his head. "You must be the bodyguard," he says, a grin coming to his thin, pink lips.

Emma lets out a snort, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder and shoving her hands into her front jean pockets. "And why would you think that?"

"I'm 13. I have ears. And eyes. I'm Henry." He holds his hand out, locks onto Emma's eyes. "It's nice to meet you."

Emma smiles back, unable to stop herself, and shakes his hand. "Hi, Henry. I'm Emma. Emma Swan."

"I know," he says with a chuckle. "My mom and her crew are through here. They're running lines with her. Follow me." He holds the door open for Emma to come in and as she's inside, she turns to him.

"Do I need to take my boots off?"

Henry laughs, motions to his Nike clad feet, shrugs. "Nah, it's fine," he says, waving her in. "Let me warn you, though. My mom, she um," he stops and leans in towards Emma, "she can be a little, um, hard to read. So… Don't be surprised if, ya know, she…" His voice trails off as he searches for the words.

"Hates me?"

"Yeah," he answers, hanging his head slightly. He looks sad all of a sudden and it makes Emma wonder what the story is there. She follows him down a hallway and through two ornate French doors. Her senses are on high alert, taking in everything - the amount of steps it takes to get from the front door to where they're standing, the amount of noise their footsteps make as they walk along the hardwood floors, everything.

"Miss Swan," Sidney says after he rushes from across the room as soon as Emma steps foot into the massive living area. Emma notices Henry immediately take his leave, his eyes moving quickly from hers to Sidney's and back to hers. She nods slightly at him, smiling as he disappears through another set of doors on the opposite side of the room. There is a crowd of people towards the left next to the bookshelves lining that side of the room - a few men, a couple girls. This room is obviously where the actress must do a lot of her rehearsing, interviews, photo shoots, all the sort of things celebrities do that Emma can't stand. There are lights on stands everywhere, power cords lining the floors, padded chaise lounges in various areas. It's a huge room, but it's crowded. The floor to ceiling windows look out to the back of the property - acres and acres of green fields stretch as far as the eye can see. There is a very large barn in the distance, a lot of white fencing, and she can see two or three horses grazing in the fields. As far as Emma can tell, the property goes on for miles. Hell, she's so used to city living that actually being able to see twenty feet without the view being obstructed by a building is pretty crazy.

"Sidney." Emma nods her head and as she goes to shake Sidney's hand is quite literally cut off by a dark haired man dressed in black leather pants, a black button down, and a black leather vest. In June. She wants so badly to roll her eyes at him, but contains her disdain. He's standing between Sidney and herself, looking at her, smelling like leather.

"Look here, love," the man says, his British accent think. He's handsome, even though he's clearly the only one who cares about it; and he's obviously wearing eyeliner, which makes her strangely uncomfortable. "I'm not really a fan of this whole arrangement Sidney has set up. Regina Mills is a _star, _you see. She's going to continue to be a _star_ and to stifle that by having a bodyguard follow her around is just bloody bullshit."

"Miss Swan, this is Killian Jones. Regina's publicist."

"Only the _best_ publicist this side of the Mississippi," Killian says, flashing a megawatt smile and winking at her.

"Oh, is that so?" Emma asks, barely able to contain her laughter.

"Yes, of course, love." Killian takes a step into Emma's personal space and glances down at her lips, then back up to her eyes.

"Good Lord, Killian," Sidney says as he comes up behind Killian and slaps him on the back. "Leave the poor woman alone."

Emma glares at Killian, watching as he retreats backwards, turns and walks towards the crowd of people. The group starts to disperse when a smaller woman emerges from the center of the crowd.

To say that Emma is stunned is an understatement.

The pictures Emma has seen of Regina Mills do her no justice. Her dark brown hair and light brown skin are even more radiant in person. Emma had done as she was told. She Googled Regina. She probably knew the woman's filmography and background better now than that asshat of a publicist. And now here she stands. Dressed to the nines. Black heels, black fitted slacks, a white, flowy blouse. Her hair is pulled back, exposing her neck and honestly, Emma has to shake her head to make herself stop staring. It is a little jarring to the blonde's senses.

Politicians were one thing. But celebrities? She wasn't prepared for _this _celebrity… for how beautiful this woman was going to be.

And it makes Emma's insides stutter.

"Uh, Regina," Sidney semi shouts over the commotion in the room.

Emma eyes the brunette as she pauses, finds Sidney from across the room, her facade never wavering. "Yes?" she asks, poised, perfect, regal.

"This is -"

"The _bodyguard_," Killian interrupts, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Regina's eyes drift over to Emma's and she immediately feels like she has a giant lump in her throat. She had worked for and protected the president of the United States of America and still had never felt as unsure of herself as she did in that moment. "Hi," she says, softly, with about as much confidence as a gnat. She wants to crawl under the giant Oriental rug that probably cost more than her entire house.

Regina takes a couple steps towards Emma, looking her up and down before finally saying, "Can we get you something to drink, Miss...?"

"Swan," Sidney interrupts, taking a step almost between the two women.

"That's an interesting name," Regina says, eyebrow raised to her hairline. Her voice is deep, dark, smooth. Like coffee without creamer. "And you don't really _look_ like a bodyguard."

"What were you expecting?" Emma responds, licking her suddenly very dry lips. She is not going to let this woman intimidate her. No way, no how.

After folding her arms across her chest, taking a step slightly back and tilting her head, Regina smacks her lips and then throws a glance over her shoulder to a man that is standing by one of the entryways with his hands in his pockets. "I was expecting someone like Robin. You know, big, brooding, a _man_."

Emma immediately looks at Sidney and he knows. Oh, he _knows_ and Emma can see how he wants to run away from the onslaught of questions she has for him. He told Emma that Regina wanted _her._ And clearly Regina had no idea about any of this. Her pointed stare is enough now, though.

"Regina," Sidney starts, but is cut off by her waving a hand at him.

The brunette displays a very fake smile. "I think I'll be okay here during the day. It's the one or two public appearances in the next two weeks that will be an issue."

"Regina -"

"No, _Sidney_," Regina says, cutting him off again, this time more forceful and less forgiving. "This isn't _that_ big of a deal!"

"She's right, _mate_! It's not a big deal. It's just a bloody little hiccup," Killian agrees, before answering his cell phone, immediately shouting some obscenities into the device.

"_What_ hiccup?" Emma asks, looking at Sidney for an answer.

"Nothing." Regina answers way too quickly.

Emma shoots a look at Regina and then glares at Sidney. "What hiccup is he talking about?"

"Nothing," Sidney says as he exhales. "Just some _unwanted_ attention."

"Listen," Regina says forcefully, her voice an octave higher than it had been a minute earlier. The entire room stands still, everyone immediately turning their attention towards the woman. "I am willing to do this, to let this happen as long as it doesn't interfere with my life, with Henry's life. I don't want you lurking around, making yourself known. You don't need to be at every event with me. You don't need to be two steps behind me or whatever. I don't need you _here_."

Emma smirks, looks around the room at the wide eyes of the bystanders, locks her view onto Sidney's glassy stare and then says softly, "I'll just see myself out." She takes the three or four steps towards the back of the room and opens the sliding glass door. The warm air hits her and she slides it closed, taking a deep breath. She takes off down the steps to the large brick patio that opens up to an incredibly huge in-ground swimming pool. There is a large pool house on one side and on the other, there are a couple large apple trees surrounding one area of the patio where she sees Henry sitting cross legged on a patio chair reading his comic book. He looks up at her as she approaches, his smile knowing.

"Already on her good side, huh?"

Emma lets out a small laugh as she sits next to Henry on a chair. "Not necessarily. I don't think this is the right job for me."

Henry nods his head and then looks across the pool. "Yeah, I had a feeling," he says with a sigh.

"Oh, you did, eh?" Emma asks, reaching her hand out and pushing playfully on his shoulder.

He chuckles. "Yeah, I did. You can't handle her."

"Look, kid," Emma starts, "I know what you're doing."

"You do?"

"Oh, yeah. Reverse psychology doesn't typically work on me," Emma answers. "I can handle her. I protected the President of the United States. I took a bullet for him. I can handle it."

"You did?" Henry asks, his eyes going wide.

Emma sighs, leans forward in her chair and props her elbows on her knees. "Henry, what am I supposed to do here?"

"You're asking a 13 year old for advice?" Henry laughs. "You really are lost, aren't you?"

Emma shakes her head, looking down at the ground, her blond hair falling over her shoulders and hanging around her face. "I just wanted some time off," she breathes, to no one in particular.

"Emma!"

Her head shoots up towards Sidney's voice as he comes rushing over towards her, his tie blowing over his shoulder. "Oh, this should be good," she says to Henry.

"Emma, I'm so glad you didn't leave."

"Came rushing right after me?" Emma asks, sarcasm dripping from her words. "Tell me," she starts, rising from her seat and taking enough steps away from Henry that he shouldn't be able to hear what they're saying, "how a person wants _me_ but doesn't know I'm a woman?"

Sidney is standing behind her, his hands nervously twisting around each other. "Emma, listen. I know what this looks like."

Emma can't help herself as a chuckle escapes from her throat. "Look, Sidney -"

"No, _listen._" Sidney hisses. He puts his hand on the crook of her arm and moves around to face her. "Someone has been harassing her, stalking her. Broke into the house. The other night, at the Entertainment Weekly event in LA," Sidney takes a breath and gathers his thoughts. "A basket of presents was delivered and, thank God Regina wasn't anywhere near her dressing room, Emma, because one of the gifts was an explosive."

"Sidney!" Emma almost shouts. She looks over her shoulder back at Henry and then immediately grabs Sidney's arm and drags him back towards the house. They walk quickly up towards the house, taking the patio as quickly as possible. "Why the hell wouldn't you tell me this to begin with?"

"Because, love," comes Killian's voice from the top of the stairs. "We didn't tell Regina about the explosive. We covered it up. We made it seem like it was just an electrical problem."

"Are these the fucking hiccups you're talking about?" Emma asks, her voice laced with irritation. "Because those aren't just _hiccups._"

Sidney looks from Killian to Emma and then says softly, "Please reconsider. I will _handle _Regina. And we'll tell you everything. We'll _show _you everything."

Emma licks her lips and looks over Killian's shoulder into the house. Regina is walking back and forth, holding a script in her hand, going over her lines with a shorter, pixie haired woman. Emma lets herself look back at Henry, still sitting on the chair, reading, Pongo the Dalmatian now sitting next to him. She isn't sure why, but she feels herself giving in. "Fine. But you tell me _everything_. And I am going to make some serious changes around here. Starting with the security system."

"Deal," Sidney says before Killian even gets a chance to answer. "Follow us."

* * *

><p>Emma takes a step back from the desk in the upstairs study, Sidney next to her, Killian across from them. "All of these letters, these came from…" Emma's voice trails off, not really sure what to say next. She's looking at stacks and stacks of letters, and death threats, and horribly offensive drawings.<p>

"Well, they're mixed in with her fan mail, but clearly these aren't from her bloody _fans_." Killian reaches forward and moves around a stack of the drawings. "These all came in around the same time. Special deliveries, no return addresses."

Emma picks up a specific letter that has been meticulously laid out. It looks as if someone has pieced together clippings from magazines and newspapers to make the words and string together sentences. It's a classic ransom letter and very obvious that whomever did it meant for it to be read. "While these are all pretty weird, I'm not too worried about them. Keep them all, though."

"Okay," Sidney complies.

"Especially this one," Emma says as she hands over the one she is holding. She notices Killian move towards Sidney and then lean into his space, whispering something into his ear. "Yeah, that stops." She motions to the men and their secret telling. "No secrets anymore."

"Fine, _Swan_," Killian says with a huff. "Follow me." He takes off through the study and down the hallway.

Emma makes eye contact with Sidney, before following the two men as they go into a very large bedroom that is ornately decorated. It doesn't really look like Regina's style from what Emma has researched and definitely doesn't look lived in, so she is immediately perplexed.

"We staged this room for a photo shoot for _People_. When Regina was up for a Golden Globe." Sidney walks over to the bed and stands at the foot of it. "We had a break in two weeks ago. The alarm didn't go off, and thank God Regina and Henry weren't here, but when we finally realized…" Sidney takes a breath and closes his eyes. "The creep that broke in -"

"He soggied his biscuit on the bed," Killian says, irritated.

Emma rolls her eyes. "What the fuck does that mean?" she asks through clenched teeth.

"He masturbated all over the bedspread," Sidney responds, hanging his head in shame.

"Oh, for Christ's sake." Emma folds her arms across her chest and sighs. "Okay, this is… This is definitely bigger than a hiccup." She reaches into her back pocket and slides her cell phone out. Within seconds she's texted her contact at the security company in Chicago. Her phone is ringing half a minute later. "Swan," she says as she answers, walking up to the window of the room. She knows the first thing she needs to do is get this house secured.

Emma can see the swimming pool from the bedroom window and watches Regina approaching it, heading straight for Henry. The boy looks up at her from the chair, stands, says a few words, walks away, flips back around, and then leaves for good. Emma's eyes travel back to Regina who looks completely bewildered.

Emma sighs as she listens to her contact at the security company prattle on about prices and quotes. She knows she's getting in over her head. She just knows it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Emma plops her duffle bag onto the bed and takes a look around the bedroom of pool house where she will be taking up residence. When she first walked into the one bedroom bungalow, it still had sheets over the furniture and clearly hadn't been utilized in quite some time. After about two hours of removing sheets, dusting, sweeping, and opening the windows and the sliding glass door, she finally feels like she might be able to unpack.

"Briar Rose, eh?"

Emma looks up at the sliding screen door that is open and smiles at the red headed man. He is standing there, Pongo at his side, holding a tennis ball. "Needed to see how hard it was to get in here."

He chuckles as he looks down and then back up, adjusting his small, circular glasses. "It wasn't hard, was it?"

Emma shakes her head and pulls out a locked box, quickly working the combination and then pulling out 6 cartridges with bullets inside of them. She places them on the bed, glancing at the man as she does so. She pulls out two Beretta pistols and checks the barrel of each before setting them on the bed. "I said Ariel at the front gate if it makes you feel any better," she says, smiling, genuinely. She knows how shitty it feels when you know you haven't done your job.

"A little," he replies, reaching down to pat Pongo on the head. "My name is Archie, by the way. People call me JC, though."

"Am I allowed to ask?"

Archie blushes and then says, "I like bugs. They're simple. I don't know, whatever. So, some of the boys, they called me Jiminy, and then Jiminy Cricket, and now, JC."

"Well, JC is a noble nickname. But if it's okay with you, I think I'll call you Archie." Emma leans over and grabs a bag of dog treats that she bought when she went back to Chicago to pack. "Is he allowed treats?"

"Of course, for both of those questions." Archie watches as Emma takes out a dog treat, slides open the screen door and tosses it up in the air for Pongo to catch, which he does with ease.

Emma congratulates the dog and then leans against the door frame. "So, I bet you get kind of bored just driving Regina Mills back and forth to Chicago and keeping that car clean," Emma finishes, flashing a grin at the man. She notices his cheeks and the pink that fills them. "I'm only saying that because I'm going to give you another job."

"You are?" He asks, his head immediately snapping up and his eyes looking at hers.

"Yes, you're my new assistant."

"I am?"

"Yes," Emma answers, pushing off of the door frame and placing a hand on the screen door. "I've spent a lot of time protecting people. Some very important people. And there's one thing that is always true."

Archie tilts his head, purses his lips and then asks, "And what's that?"

"You're only as good as the people you surround yourself with." Emma slides the screen door closed. "Meet me later today out front."

* * *

><p>"I need all of this cut back." Emma shakes her head and motions to the shrubs and foliage. "No, all of this. This all has to come down." She walks up the driveway, pointing along the way. "This, too. Seriously, all of this. If we need to get a landscaper out here to figure out how to make this more aesthetically pleasing, fine. But this can't be obstructing the view so much of the driveway." She glances back at Archie, Joe, the security guy, and his assistant as they are all taking notes and talking amongst themselves. "So, we need to make sure this is all top notch and as high tech as you have. I want the best of the best gate, the top of the line intercom. I need a security station out front, as well with a camera, security monitors inside of it. I would also like to hire security guards for 24 hour surveillance. We need someone there as often as possible. And we need cameras along the new fence lining the road. Can you give me a timeline?" Emma asks.<p>

"Well, I mean, you're asking for a complete overhaul of this place, so really, I'm thinking at least 2-3 weeks. But we can work non-stop and around the clock if you want us to, Em. I mean, anything for you." Joe adjusts his very raggedy ball cap and shrugs his shoulders. "I'm giving you my cost on everything, too. Don't you worry about that."

Emma stops when they are around the backside of the house, lets the men catch up with her. "Oh, don't worry. Cost is no object. I want to make sure that the house is completely secured, as well. I'd like to be able to control everything remotely."

"Of course, boss," Joe replies. "Everything can be hooked to your iPhone."

"And Archie's phone, as well," Emma says, motioning to Archie. "I want to know that if I'm incapacitated in any way that you're able to know what's going on." Archie's eyes go wide and Emma chuckles a little. "Don't worry," she calms. "I'm not going to make you shoot anyone."

Joe lets out a snort. "'Don't worry,' she says." He elbows his assistant. "This guy doesn't know our Emma Swan very well, does he?"

The assistant smiles, nods his head, keeps writing.

Archie swallows the lump that has formed in his throat as they start walking again. Emma grins at Archie, pushing him playfully before she glances up at the house. She can see Regina walking from the barn, Henry with her. The brunette is dressed in jeans, tall brown cowboy boots, and a short sleeved jean shirt. The only thing that is missing is a cowboy hat, which Emma assumes is only because the oversized hat that Henry has on is actually his mother's. He is dressed almost identically, except that he is wearing an Avengers t-shirt. Emma has learned from Archie that the reason for the purchase of the ranch was for the horses Regina owns. It was the only reason she bought the place sight unseen, and according to the rumors around the ranch, the only reason she's happy staying in the hinterlands of Indiana.

Both Regina and Henry are looking in Emma's direction and she raises a hand to wave. Henry, of course, waves back, barely able to contain his excitement, while Regina… Well, she doesn't wave at all.

"She's just hard to read," Archie comments softly after seeing Emma's face fall.

Emma doesn't acknowledge him at first, but then casually responds with, "Yeah, well, we aren't supposed to be friends, are we?"

* * *

><p>"Pull back so your hand is to your ear… Yeah, like that."<p>

Emma watches from about thirty steps away as the pixie haired woman she has yet to meet stands with Henry, teaching him how to shoot a bow and arrow.

Henry laughs a little and the bow goes slack. "It's so hard," he says, shaking his gloved hands out.

"Yeah, it is," the woman says, kindly. "But the more you work on it, the easier it gets." She picks up her own bow and threads an arrow. "See, watch." She pulls back and releases, the arrow easily hitting the target, almost directly on the gold.

"Wow, Mary Margaret," Henry breaths. "That's so awesome."

"You can do it, too. Now, pick the bow back up and try again."

He does as he's told, pulls the arrow back again, this time a little easier. The now named woman comments how good that looks and then taps his elbow up a little bit. "This has to be straight. If it falls, your arrow is never going to reach the target."

"Okay, now, take a deep breath, eye your target, and release your breath, then the arrow. Breathe, Target, Release, Arrow."

The boy listens perfectly and the arrow hits the target on the far left hand side. He turns immediately launches himself into the air and yells out, "Woohoo!"

Emma lets out a laugh and claps from where she's standing. "Well done, Henry!"

"Emma! You saw that?!"

"I did," she answers, walking up towards the two.

"Emma, I don't think I've had a chance to meet you yet. I'm Mary Margaret," the woman says as she holds out her hand.

Emma shakes it and smiles. "Hell of an archer," Emma compliments, motioning towards her bow.

Mary Margaret shrugs, blushes. "It's a rush," she says with a giddy laugh. "I've been coaching Henry here for a while. I'm also his home school teacher."

"Ahh, I see. I wondered. Summer break now, though?"

"Yep," Henry answers, beaming. "Did you see me and my mom earlier?"

"My mom and me," Mary Margaret corrects.

"My mom and me," Henry repeats. "Did you?"

Emma nods her head, smiling at the teacher-student exchange. "I did. Looks like you two were riding this morning?"

"Yes! It was so fun. Maybe you could come sometime."

"Uh, well, I don't really ride horses," Emma hurriedly replies. "Not really a fan of big, large animals that could crush me." Mary Margaret chuckles at that and Emma looks at her. "What?"

"Well, I mean, you're a bodyguard, right?"

Emma nods.

"And you're afraid of a horse?"

A blush fills Emma's cheeks and she shakes her head. "You got me there, Mary Margaret."

"Henry!"

"Aww, man," Henry says under his breath. "What?" He shouts from where they're standing.

Emma pulls a breath into her lungs. "Henry, you should go up there. Don't shout at your mother like that," she scolds. "The archery lesson will wait for you, I'm sure."

Mary Margaret looks from Emma to Henry, almost as if she's expecting Henry to protest, but he doesn't. He hands over his bow and quickly runs over to Regina, who is standing on the patio, leaning against the stone wall that surrounds the area. Emma and Mary Margaret are standing close enough to the back of the house that they can see Regina perfectly. Emma watches as the brunette questions Henry and his responses to the questions seem forced, almost irritatingly so.

"What's up with them?" Emma asks, nodding towards the mother and son.

Mary Margaret sighs deeply. "Ever since Daniel was, well, _you know_, she has been pretty overprotective of him."

"Wasn't that shortly after Henry was born?"

"Yeah," the other woman answers, her voice covered in emotion. "It's pushing him away. I wish she could see that."

Emma sees Regina look over at the two of them. It seems like her eyes linger a little bit longer than normal on Emma, but she knows it's just her wishing Regina would budge just an inch. But she won't. She hasn't and she won't. They've not said more than two words to each other since she moved in and it's starting to wear on her nerves.

"Look," Mary Margaret starts as they continue to watch Regina and Henry exchange words. "Regina is like a second mother to me and I would do anything to protect her. And I love Henry. So, please, please know that whatever you need from me, I'm going to help you. If it's just advice or help or even if you need my archery skills."

This makes Emma laugh a little and she looks at Mary Margaret affectionately. "This isn't Lord of the Rings, Mary Margaret, but thank you very much."

Mary Margaret looks down at her shoes and then up at Emma. "Don't let anything happen to her."

"I won't. I promise."

* * *

><p>Archie accelerates as they round the corner of the country road. Emma watches his eyes from behind her Ray-bans as he keeps looking down at the speedometer. "Keep your eyes on the road, Archie," Emma chides, softly. "You never know what might run out in front of you.<p>

"Miss Swan -"

"Emma," she corrects.

"Okay, Emma, I have never driven this car this fast. If Regina knew about this…"

Emma chuckles. "She won't. Don't worry. Now speed up."

"I'm already going 90."

"Take it to 100."

"Emma..."

"It's nothing but straight, open roads up here. Don't worry… too much," Emma finishes, smiling from the rush of going this fast. "Good, good. Now, hit the brakes and I want you to take this corner as safely as you can while going pretty fast." Archie does as he's told. Every direction he's given, he performs with expert skill. Emma is thoroughly impressed, especially after he executes the 180 degree turn almost flawlessly. She had to help him turn the wheel a little bit, but that's normal on a person's first attempt. She's pleased, though. After they've been driving for at least a half hour, Emma directs him to drive back to the ranch. "You realize most police officers don't drive like this after being on the force for years?"

He laughs as they pull back up to the gate. "Well, I just know how to do as I'm told, I guess."

Emma turns in her seat to high five him when she notices something out of the corner of her eye. "Shit, there's a person over there in a green hoodie. Hurry and take the car back to the house." Emma jumps out of the passenger seat and draws her weapon. She takes a few steps and before she knows it, the person has seen her and is taking off in the opposite direction. "HEY!" she shouts, taking off after the person. She hurdles a fallen down tree expertly and then slides on her thigh underneath some brush. She pops up and looks around. It's silent. Nothing but some birds chirping. She bends over, picks up a stone and throws it, causing some birds to chatter and flap their wings.

"Fuck," she whispers, hitting her fist on her thigh. She wipes at the sweat on her forehead with the back of her forearm, before turning around and making her way back to the gate.

When she gets back to the house, Regina is standing outside the house talking to Archie, who immediately rushes over to her. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Emma holsters her gun and adjusts her Ray-bans. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just happy that fence will be replaced tomorrow."

"Miss Swan," Regina says, her heels clicking on the cement as she approaches Archie and Emma.

"Yes?" Emma responds, turning her attention to the brunette, who, of course is impeccably dressed in a gray pencil skirt and a very low cut top. Emma can feel her eyebrow raising as Regina draws nearer and she's thankful for the cover of her dark sunglasses. The last thing she needs is for Regina to see that she's had it up to here with this whole holier than thou attitude.

"Tonight is the Hispanic Cultural Event downtown, which I'm sure you're _unaware_."

Emma smirks, hands on her hips, as she faces Regina. "On the contrary," she starts, all business. "I am aware. I have been briefed on all of your public appearances. As well as any private events that you have run by Mr. Glass and Mr. Jones." She lifts her head a hair, puffs her chest a little bit, and finishes with, "As far as tonight is concerned, we are leaving at six o'clock sharp."

Regina deflates a tiny bit and starts to fidget with the clasp on her watch. "Oh. Well. Then. I guess that's all I needed. I was just not sure if you were going or not."

Archie looks from Emma to Regina and then back to Emma before he takes a step back. Emma moistens her lips and says with as much force as she can without sounding like a bitch, "It's my job to protect you, Miss Mills. I plan on doing my job."

"Well, then, I guess this meeting is over," Regina responds, her voice sharp, before turning around swiftly and walking back towards the house.

Emma lets out a long, exasperated breath, followed by a, "Holy shit, Archie. Why does she hate me so much?"

He takes a step closer to her, looking after Regina as she walks into the house. "She hates needing anyone, Emma. Believe me. I know her really well. I don't just drive her car."

Emma turns her head, the question of '_what?_' written all over it.

"I was her therapist first." Archie smiles as he folds his arms across his chest. "She made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Also, I really love Henry. He's a great kid."

"Oh, God, I thought you were sleeping with her," Emma says, a laugh bubbling from her throat.

Archie blushes ten shades of red and then lets out his own laugh. "Emma, that's not professional at all!"

"I know! I know," she replies, still laughing. "Go get ready for tonight." She punches him gently on the arm before she turns and heads towards the pool house to clean up for the event.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you all for the kind words and the favorites/follows! So excited!**

**Chapter 4**

Emma pulls on her black fitted suit jacket over the blue button down shirt she has chosen for the event. She has black pants on - the ones with the nice iron crease down the front, and a pair of boots with a slight heel. To say she modeled herself after Jane Rizzoli would be spot on. She takes a final look in the mirror before she pulls her gun from the shoulder holster, ejects the magazine, checks it and then slides it back into the gun. She takes a deep breath, turns and exits the pool house, locking the door behind her, and slides on her Ray-bans as she walks up to the front of the house. She hates admitting it - and she probably wouldn't admit it to anyone but herself - but she's _insanely _nervous.

It doesn't help that this situation is entirely different than what she's used to. But it's also this _woman_. Regina is so against Emma in every way and it's really irritating. Emma knows what she's doing, for Christ's sake. Why this hoighty-toighty celebrity can't see that is beyond her.

As Emma rounds the front of the house, she sees Archie has already pulled the freshly washed and waxed car up. He moves around the front of the car, his black suit and tie looking crisp and clean.

He smiles at her. "Well, you clean up nice," he comments, clasping his hands in front of his body.

"I do know how to look professional," Emma replies, rolling her eyes from behind her sunglasses. She is happy that her transformation hasn't gone unnoticed, though. She had even pulled her hair back and wrapped it into a tight bun, hoping it would help keep her cool in the warm June air.

"Swan."

"Kilian," Emma says with a nod and he and Sidney approach. "Sidney, how are you?"

"Just fine. You look good."

"Man, I must have really looked sketchy before," Emma laughs.

"Well, the skinnies and riding boots were easy on the eyes - that's for bloody sure," Killian comments, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his leather pants.

"Keep your mouth shut. Regina is on her way," Sidney scolds Killian.

Emma hands an earpiece and small microphone to Archie. "Wear this. I have one, as well. Clip this piece to your sleeve on the inside here," she motions to the underside of the wrist, showing Archie hers. "It's an intercom. We can stay connected that way." She turns and waits for Regina to exit the house, making sure to stand bolt upright, hands behind her back. When the door opens and Regina takes a step out, Emma has never been happier that she's wearing sunglasses.

The brunette is dressed in a form fitting black dress that falls into loose sheer material around her ankles. She has on red heels and is carrying a red clutch. Her hair is down, has loose curls all over it and her make up is flawless. The dress is low cut, and honestly, Emma has seen a lot of beautiful people in her life, but Regina Mills makes them all look like dogs.

"Jesus," she says, so softly that she's surprised anyone hears her, but she sees Archie smile at her in response.

"Here is the address," Regina says when she gets to the car, handing over a piece of paper as Archie opens the door for her. Emma sees how Regina's eyes travel over her, taking in her attire and hair. "I was worried you were going to look like a ragamuffin. I'm happy you have cleaned yourself up."

Emma tilts her head and puts her hand on Regina's arm as she's about to slide into the backseat of the car. Regina's head snaps up to look at her and the rest of Regina's entourage almost gasps at the fact that Emma just touched this woman without asking. "When we get to the event, you'll be getting out on a red carpet. Please wait for my move and then I'll follow you in."

"Oh, why, of course, Miss Swan. Thank you so much for letting me know how these red carpet events work," Regina says, her response so icy it almost lowers the temperature in the air. "Now if you don't mind..." Her eyes flit down to Emma's hand and she immediately releases her.

"Yes, of course," Emma replies, her eyes noticing every movement as the brunette climbs into the car, followed by Sidney and Killian and then finally, she releases her breath that she had absentmindedly been holding when Archie slams the door closed. He looks at her over the tops of his glasses and Emma sighs. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"You need to calm down," he says quietly. He sounds displeased, upset with her, and she knows she deserves it. He walks around the front of the car and opens the driver's side door. "Get in. We're going to be late."

Emma quickly opens the passenger door and slides into the seat, locking her seat belt as Archie puts the car into drive and pulls away.

* * *

><p>The event is going very smoothly. The security is top notch, which makes Emma's job ten times easier. She stands away from Regina during most of the evening, watching from afar as the brunette talks and laughs with industry people, news anchors, reporters, and politicians. It's not until she sees Regina start moving towards an exit, not making eye contact with her that Emma feels her protective mode shift into overdrive.<p>

She makes her way through the crowd easily, bypassing numerous people by sticking to the outer edge of the room. When she gets closer to Regina, she sees that she's making her way to the ladies' room. Emma follows without making any noise, making sure to give Regina as much space as possible. She stands outside of the restroom, hands behind her back, when she notices a lot of commotion over towards the entryway of the building.

Emma brings her microphone up to her mouth, "Archie? Do you copy?"

"Yes?" she hears him respond almost immediately, his voice shaking with nerves.

"Stand by. Not sure what's going on. Some commotion. Looks harmless. Stay tuned. Over."

"Sure thing," he replies.

Emma waits for a couple more minutes, wonders if she should go check on Regina, but honestly fears the woman's wrath. She decides after waiting there for 15 minutes total that she'll risk it as she pushes through the door of the restroom. "Miss Mills?" Emma calls from the small sitting room right inside the door. She doesn't get an answer, so she takes a couple steps through the room, and then turns a corner. There are a few sinks, a restroom attendant and three or four stalls. "Regina?" And finally Emma hears an exasperated sigh, a lot of material shuffling around and then a toilet flushing. When the stall door opens, Regina is standing there, quite flustered and completely irritated, and she looks like she's having issues with her dress.

"I thought I _specifically _told you that I don't want you following me around everywhere I go?" Regina asks, still standing in the stall, her hand on the top of the swinging door.

Emma takes a deep breath and adjusts her stance. "Look, lady, I realize you don't think you need me to follow you around, but it's my _job_. It was taking you a lot longer than normal to go to the bathroom so I came in here to check on you. I'm sorry if that upsets you, but you're going to have to take it up with Sidney, because I'm not going to let you get murdered because I didn't feel like pissing you off by following you to the bathroom."

"Of course it took me longer. I don't typically wear a goddamn ball gown to the bathroom. And now," Regina takes a breath, "You know what, never mind. Can you please just leave?"

"Fine," Emma says, dropping her hands to her side. She turns and heads to the door, making eye contact with the restroom attendant on the way out. She shoves a twenty dollar bill into the tip jar. "If she's as nice to you as she is me, you're going to need that tip." The attendant smiles and Emma immediately feels guilty.

Emma has her hand on the door handle and is just getting ready to pull it open when she hears, "_Wait_."

"What?" Emma asks, not moving, not turning around, not _anything_.

"I think," Regina starts as she finally steps out of the stall, "I need some help with my dress."

Emma rolls her eyes. Not at Regina, but at her own inability to just say '_too fucking bad_' and walk out of the bathroom. She turns around and walks back over to the brunette. "What's going on with it?"

"Well, I tried to just pull it up, and that didn't work, so then I tried to unzip it, but I had to turn it a little, and suffice it to say, I can't get it to lay right now."

"Okay, come here," Emma says calmly, walking Regina a couple steps away from the stalls over to a more secluded area in the very large restroom. She wants to smile, because for the first time maybe ever, she is seeing a very human side of Regina and it's very refreshing. But she doesn't smile. She keeps it all business. "I'm going to unzip you and then zip you back up after we get everything laying properly."

Regina looks at Emma, a smile playing on her lips. "Never had to do this for the president, did you?"

She can smell the alcohol on Regina's breath and sadly, it's more of a turn on than it should be, but Emma still keeps her composure. "I have helped with my fair share of wardrobe malfunctions," she answers, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a small smile. "Turn around." Regina does as she's told and Emma reaches forward to gently pull the zipper the rest of the way down, revealing a very long, lean back. "Okay, do what you need to do." She watches as Regina's hands immediately smooth out some material in the front of the dress and then she bounces a little, pulling the material taught to her skin.

"Okay, zip it up."

Emma's fingers pull on the zipper, and then snap the clasp at the very top. "There. All better."

Regina clears her throat, turns towards Emma, her eyes locking onto the blonde's green ones. "Thank you," she says, barely above a whisper.

"Part of the job, apparently," Emma replies, a smile on her face, before making her way to the door to exit the restroom. "I will wait for you out here."

* * *

><p>"I'm ready," Regina says as she approaches Emma. "Please get me out of here."<p>

"Is everything okay?" Emma asks before she quickly tells Archie to pull the car around. She notices Sidney and Killian following, knowing it's time to get out of here.

"Just very ready," Regina replies.

Emma hears Archie say he's 5 minutes out, so she looks at Regina. "Five minutes." Regina takes off towards the exit and Emma is hot on her trail. "Wait, Regina," she hisses.

"No, Miss Swan, it'll be fine," she says softly. She smiles and adds with an air of confidence she displays often, "I have to give the fans what they want." She pushes through the people standing around the door and out into the night. There are people everywhere. _Everywhere_. When they arrived earlier, there were a few people milling around, but now, the outside lines are so crowded it is ridiculous. And the crowd fucking erupts when they see Regina.

_Erupts_!

It almost takes Emma's breath away.

And the smile that is plastered on Regina's face?

That almost takes Emma's breath away, as well.

Emma is standing as close to the brunette as possible now, watching as photographs are shoved in her direction with black Sharpies being wagged at her like disapproving fingers, and it doesn't phase the actress one bit. Regina takes her time, talks to her fans, smiles, laughs, poses for selfies with them, even goes so far as to hug one teenage girl that is in tears. They move fairly effortlessly down the line, Regina talking to as many people as possible. They get to an older man and immediately Emma's senses start tingling due to the fact that he's wearing a long coat in June. She leans into Regina's space and whispers, "Skip this guy." Regina looks up casually, noticing the man and then immediately tensing up.

Emma puts a hand out in front of Regina and slides in between her and the fans. "Miss Mills, your car is here now," Emma explains, loud and forceful. The fans all whine and groan and all of a sudden the older man lunges towards them both.

Emma shields Regina from his grasp and grabs the back of the guy's head as she pulls it down and knees him right in the nose. "No way!" Emma shouts. "Security! Get this guy out of here!"

Men swarm the guy and before they know it, Emma has Regina in the car with Sidney and Killian jumping in after them. "Drive, Archie!" Emma directs and he does exactly as he's told.

* * *

><p>Emma props her feet on the coffee table in front of the couch and leans back, a cold beer in her hand. She runs her empty hand through her hair. It feels good to get that tight bun out and to let it down. There's a fan blowing directly on her, because sadly, she has realized the only bad thing about the pool house is that it doesn't have air conditioning. Needless to say, a white tank top and running shorts are about all she wears to bed now that the nights are getting warmer.<p>

She flips through the channels, lands on the local Chicago news loop and the coverage of the event. She sees flashes of all the famous celebrities, including Regina. And then she sees the spectacle that happened right before they left and she leans forward, turning the volume up.

_Police officers apprehended the man, who has apparently been in other altercations with security when it comes to appearances made by Regina Mills. _

Emma sighs before turning the TV off. "Great," she whispers right before she hears a knock on the door. She looks up at the clock. 1 am. "What the hell?" She jumps up and makes her way over to the door, grabbing her gun on the way over to it. She unclicks the safety and slowly cracks the door to peek outside. "Regina?"

"Hi," the brunette says, after Emma swings the door open the rest of the way.

She has her hands shoved into the pockets of the light jacket she has on and she looks like she's pretty upset. "What's going on? Are you okay?" Emma asks. She moves to the side and makes a hand movement signaling Regina to come inside. The brunette complies and then stands stock still in the middle of the entry way.

"Sidney just told me everything."

Emma takes a deep breath and then says softly, "oh," before moving around Regina and into the small seating area. "Come, sit down. Do you want a beer?"

Regina doesn't really move, just continues to stand there, lost and bewildered. Emma has seen this face before. Regina Mills is scared out of her mind. But why? Is it just from what happened tonight? Or is it more?

"Regina, come in here and sit down," Emma says again, softer this time. The woman finally moves, takes four steps before sitting so cautiously on the soft couch that it seems like she thinks it might actually explode. "Hey," Emma starts. "You're safe here with me. Okay?"

"I know," Regina says so quietly that Emma barely hears it. "That's why I came here."

That admission shocks Emma, but she hides it very well. She never thought she'd hear the day that Regina actually admits that Emma knows what she's doing. Emma leans back on the couch cushions, takes a long swig of her beer, and then asks, "What all did they tell you?"

The brunette takes a breath and answers with, "Everything."

"So, the bedroom?"

Regina nods her head.

"The explosive?"

Another head nod.

"The letters?"

A final head nod before Regina turns her head calmly and looks at Emma. "They said you wanted to tell me as soon as you found out."

"Sidney and I talked that first night and yes, I did say I wanted you to know. I feel you need to know otherwise you, well," she pauses and tries to find the right words, but realizes she needs to just be completely honest. "You act like you did tonight. Without a care in the world." Emma tries to smile at her, but clearly it's too soon. "I'm sorry they didn't tell you right away. But there are no secrets now."

Regina looks at Emma, takes in her appearance, the blonde hair. "Can I have that beer now?" she asks, and smiles when Emma's eyes go wide.

"Absolutely."

* * *

><p>"Yeah, really. I was <em>really <em>shot," Emma says while semi-stifling a burp. She laughs a little bit and so does Regina and then she explains, "People typically don't make it up when they get shot. There's about a 99% chance it leaves a scar, so… It went right through my side." She slides up the hem of her tank top and reveals toned abdominal muscles and a circular scar, the size of a nickel, and gauges Regina's reaction.

"Did it -"

"Hurt?"

"No," Regina laughs. "I know it _hurt_, you fool. Did it scare you?"

Emma shrugs her shoulder and then scrunches her face. "Would you believe me if I said nothing really scares me?"

Regina eyes the woman sitting next to her on the couch. "Yes," she whispers.

Emma notices Regina's glassy eyes and as she's getting ready to say something, Regina quickly looks away, stands up and places her empty beer bottle on the coffee table.

"I need to go," she says abruptly. She doesn't look at Emma as she hurriedly makes her way towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Swan."

"Uh, bye?" Emma's response is barely out of her mouth before the door is closing and Regina has left, leaving her completely baffled.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter... Unfortunately I had a very horrible week personally. One of my very good friends lost her battle with cancer. Fucking cancer. Sigh. Just wanted you all to know that life is short! Enjoy the good things!**

**Chapter 5**

"Regina's Chicago Comic Con appearance is tonight."

Emma looks over at Archie from their positions on their hands and knees on the ground in front of the Rolls-Royce. She is holding a mirror on an extendable stick. "I know," she replies calmly.

"It's a big event."

"Yes, that's what I've heard." Emma continues to point with the mirror, showing Archie what foreign objects he should be looking for.

"Are you worried?"

Emma stops what she's doing again and takes a deep breath. "Not any more worried than I was the other night."

"Emma," Archie starts, looking all of the sudden very grim.

"What?"

"They didn't tell you, did they?"

"Didn't tell me what?" she asks, anger lacing her words instantly.

Archie sits upright, kneeling on just one knee. He pushes his hands through his hair and then takes his glasses off, wiping at his eyes. "Regina got another threatening letter last night."

Emma immediately jumped to her feet. "What are you talking about?"

"Sidney and Killian intercepted it and," Archie stops as Emma all of sudden takes off running towards the house. "Emma! Wait!"

Emma flies into the house and looks around frantically for Sidney. She finally finds him upstairs in the study, sitting at the desk, talking to Killian. Emma slams the door closed behind her and marches right up to him, wheeling the chair he's sitting in away from the desk. She puts a hand on his shoulder and gets right in his face. "What the _fuck_, Sidney? Why didn't you tell me about the new letter?"

"Look, love," Killian starts.

Emma glares at him. "It's _very _important for you to _not _finish that sentence. I don't give a shit what you have to say, you leather pants wearing _asshole_." She turns her attention back to Sidney and tries to not punch him in the face. "Why didn't you tell me? I need to know when these things happen and you fucking know it!"

"Emma, listen, we didn't tell you because last night was such a disaster. The Hispanic Event turned out to be too much and Regina was so worked up. And last night she confronted us about you and why we hired you so we told her. We told her everything." Sidney licks his lips and tries to control himself and his words. He's so nervous now that there are beads of sweat dotting the expanse of his forehead. "The letter came last night after the event. We found it on the front door."

"Where was I? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were with Regina, love," Killian said, his voice low, his eyebrow arched in a way that screamed _I know_.

"We went to tell you last night and Regina was in your pool house and we just, we felt it was best to keep this to ourselves until today."

Emma loosened her grip on Sidney's shoulder and stood upright, immediately folding her arms across her chest. "This _never _fucking happens again. You tell me immediately or I walk. This is bullshit and you know it, Sidney. This isn't a goddamn movie! It's _real_! And Regina is a real person! You can't just withhold this stuff from me and then act like it's not a big fucking deal. I told you no more secrets. And I promised _Regina _that there would be no more secrets."

"Regina doesn't know about this other letter, love."

Emma looks over at Killian. "Stop calling me that," she says through clenched teeth.

"Emma," Sidney starts, following the blonde as she turns and walks over towards the door to the study. "The letter was the same as that _one_."

"Give it to me," she says, holding her hand out. Sidney pulls the newest letter from the inside pocket of his overcoat. When the paper hits Emma's hand, she looks up into Sidney's eyes. "Don't do this again."

"I won't," he says calmly right before she opens the door and leaves the room, slamming it in her wake.

* * *

><p>"August, I need your help."<p>

"Well, well, well, look at that. You get a signal out there."

"Very funny, you asshole," Emma says into her phone. She gathers the letters that she had taken from the main house and puts them into an envelope. "I'm going to be in the city tonight at Comic Con. Can you meet me? I need to get you some letters that I want you to have David look at."

"Comic Con? You want me to go to that nerd fest?" August asks, laughter surrounding his words.

Emma sighs as she sits down at the kitchen table in the pool house. She puts her free hand up to her forehead and rubs. "I need you for, _like_, oh, I don't know, five _fucking_ minutes, to be the guy in my life that I _trust_. Okay?"

"Okay, okay," August says. He clears his throat and then asks, "What's going on, Em?"

"I have these letters that Regina's been getting and I want you to have David run some forensics on them. Keep it quiet, obviously. We don't want the press to get a hold of this. That's the last thing we need."

"Alrighty, Em. I can do that. Just shoot me a text and I'll come meet you there in a jiff."

"Thanks, August." Emma disconnects the call and sets her phone on the table. She looks at the latest letter and compares it to the first one.

The first one was so ominous:

_You have everything. I have nothing. You will die one day. We all die eventually. You will be the first to die, though._

And the second one was more intense:

_You're being protected. Clever girl. You've succumbed to being scared and frightened. You have everything, but not for long. Soon._

Emma looks up and through the screen door in the kitchen that leads out to the patio area surrounding the pool. She can see Regina sitting out there with Henry. She's on the edge, wearing shorts and a bikini top, her feet hanging in the water. Henry is in the water, splashing around and throwing a ball to Pongo who keeps bringing it back time and time again. Mary Margaret is sitting next to Regina and they're talking, laughing about something. Emma looks back down at the letter and takes a deep breath.

_Soon_.

* * *

><p>"Archie, I need you to be ready for a quick getaway tonight. Over."<p>

"Sure thing, Emma. I'm in the parking garage. Just let me know as soon as you're ready. I'll be waiting at the loading docks in the garage. Over."

"Perfect. Stay focused."

"Ditto, boss."

Emma watches Regina talking to her fans. There are tons of people lined up at a table and Regina is signing pictures, smiling for photo ops, being the celebrity she's supposed to be. Emma keeps scanning the crowd, making sure to notice as much as humanly possible. The venue was so packed, but as far as she can tell, crowd control is pretty impressive.

"Miss?"

Emma nods her head at one of the security officers. "Miss Mills is done now. She can leave the area if you'd like to escort her to the next area."

"Okay, thank you." Emma takes two steps and puts a hand on Regina's bare shoulder. She leans down next to the brunette's ear. "It's time to go to the next area. Come with me."

"I'm so sorry everyone, but I have to go!" Regina says as she stands up and adjusts the black suit jacket with leather sleeves she was wearing over a skin tight red dress that fell right above her knees. Emma places a hand on Regina's elbow and pulls gently on her as the brunette starts to wave good bye to all the fans yelling and shouting 'we love you' and 'we can't wait for your next show' and 'you're so beautiful, please don't go!'

"They sure love you," Emma comments as Regina and her walk swiftly to the next station, which just happens to be a large room where Regina will be sitting with writers and actors for her upcoming TV show. The fans will be able to ask questions and see clips from the pilot. It's a pretty big deal and Emma is actually finding herself getting fairly caught up in the chaos.

"I love them," Regina replies, glancing at Emma as they continue to make their way through the crowd of people. "It wouldn't be possible without the fans, Miss Swan."

Emma smiles as they approach the side entrance of the room. She turns and looks at the brunette. "I want you to keep this." She hands Regina an ornate pendant with a swan pressed into the silver.

"What?" Regina says as she looks down at it. "It's gorgeous. What is this for?"

Emma smiles, shrugs a shoulder and then says, "It was mine… I've had it for as long as I can remember. But I had it fitted with a microchip. If you squeeze it, I'll be alerted to your whereabouts immediately." She looks at the brunette, her dark eyes are tearing up and Emma reaches up and wipes away a renegade tear. "Go. I'll be waiting for you." And Regina is immediately escorted by security to the backstage area.

* * *

><p>"Thank you so much for meeting me, August."<p>

"Emma, you look good," August whispers as he pulls Emma into a hug. He claps a hand on her back and then messes her hair up with his other hand.

She laughs and then pushes him away from her playfully. "Don't ever throw me a bone again," she says when she hands him the envelope with the letters. "This shit is getting deep." They're both standing in the backstage area with visible access to the stage. Emma still has a clear view of Regina and again, the crowd control is something she is completely impressed with. She wonders why celebrities seem to get better crowd control than politicians, but then doesn't even need to know the answer to that question.

August takes the envelope, unclasps it and pulls out the letters. He scans them quickly and then looks over at Emma. "What the hell, Em?"

"I know. I don't understand why these assholes never went to the cops to begin with."

"David's waiting for this. We'll get to the bottom of it."

"Thanks."

"I'm out, gimme a hug." August pulls Emma in again for a hug. "Two weeks. Party at my lake house in Michigan."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there," Emma says before she kisses him on the cheek. She watches him walk away, the security guard letting him pass after he flashes his detective badge at them.

Emma looks back out at Regina, she's talking, answering a fan's question about the new series. She looks radiant up there, the way her hair is shining as the lights hit it. Emma bites the inside of her mouth, scolding herself because she has been trying so hard to not let this get out of control with this woman.

Yet... it's _happening_.

Emma Swan is starting to have feelings for Regina Mills. And as much as she knows she needs to stop it, she isn't sure she can.

Or if she wants to.

* * *

><p>"Okay, look, you can't have these fans blocking the walkway like that," Emma lectures, pointing towards the people as she waits for Regina to exit the backstage area.<p>

"I know, Miss, we'll get them to move," the guard answers before he radios over to another guard to clear the way.

Emma huffs, "You'd better. There's no way we can make it through if you don't go clear a pathway."

"Yes, ma'am, we're on it," he says as he takes off in the direction of the crowd.

The doors open and out steps Regina with the rest of the cast. The crowd of fans that can see goes nuts and a smile spreads to all of the celebrities' faces. Regina's eyes immediately find Emma's. "Come here," Emma mouths and Regina listens, making her way towards Emma. The rest of the cast takes off towards the crowd and they start begging Regina to come with them.

She looks at Emma. "Can I go with?"

"Not yet, you need to let the guards get the crowd get controlled first."

"I think it'll fine!" one of the cast members shouts. "Come on, Regina! Come with! The fans love you!"

"Regina, please wait," Emma pleads, her eyes locking right onto the brunette's. She watches as Regina looks at the crowd, the cast and then back at Emma.

"I'm going. I'll be fine. Come with me."

"Regina, no!" Emma shouts, but it's too late. Regina is running towards the crowd in her heels, the rest of the cast chanting her name when all of a sudden, and Emma sees it happen…

The fence holding back the fans…

It gives and breaks loose.

And just like a waterfall, the fans completely rush the cast. And Regina. Everyone is pushing and shoving and it's utter chaos!

Emma immediately calls Archie on their intercom. "LOADING DOCK! NOW!" she shouts and then springs into action. She can see the brunette being pushed back and forth. Emma finds an opening in the crowd and starts to break in between the people. She elbows two men in the side, punches one guy right in the face, and kicks one dickhead that wouldn't listen at all in the ass. She reaches forward and stops another fan - this time an all too eager girl - from attacking one of the other cast members. Emma finally makes her way through and finds Regina. There's a guy close to her, and Emma instantly attacks, just kicks him square in the balls. She grabs Regina by the waist, holding onto her as tightly as possible when she feels her start to go limp.

In a moment of pure adrenalin, Emma reaches down and picks Regina up into her arms. She's carrying her through the crowd, shouting at people to get out of the way. When Emma gets through the sea of people, she rushes down a hall and finds the exit to the loading dock with so much ease that she's almost positive she made a wrong turn somewhere. She bursts through the door and Archie is waiting there with the car door open. He helps her get Regina into the backseat before Emma slides in beside her and Archie jumps into the driver's seat, peeling away from the loading dock and out of the parking garage.

Regina's head is resting on Emma's shoulder when she looks up at Archie in the rearview mirror. "That was close," Emma says softly.

Archie merges easily onto Lake Shore Drive and heads towards the Toll Road. "What happened?" he asks finally.

"I didn't listen," Regina answers out of nowhere.

All Emma can do is hold the brunette tighter.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you saved me," Regina says softly from her laying down position on the bed in her bedroom.<p>

When Emma hears Regina's voice she stands from the chair across the room and comes over to the bed. She kneels on the floor next to it and smiles. "You are seriously the most stubborn person I have ever met."

"I'm so sorry," she whispers, her voice shaking with emotion. "I should have listened to you."

"Yeah, you should have," Emma whispers back, smoothing Regina's hair away from her face. "You could have been trampled. Or kidnapped. Or _killed_."

"I know," Regina responds. She closes her eyes and tears pool near the sides. "I am so sorry."

Emma reaches out and puts a hand on Regina's hand. "Don't be sorry. Just listen to me next time. I'm trying to protect you."

"Will you stay here tonight?" Regina asks, lightly holding onto Emma's fingers in her hand.

Emma stands up and makes her way to the other side of the bed. She sits down on top of the comforter and scoots all the way up so she's sitting upright and propped against the headboard. "Go back to sleep," she says softly, Regina still holding onto her hand. Within seconds, she hears Regina's breathing slow and feels like maybe it's okay to close her own eyes.

When she dreams that night, she dreams of light and dark and red. She dreams of Regina and her hands. And her lips.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

After two weeks of making sure every aspect of the security system is installed correctly, including the new gate, monitored fence, and state of the art intercom system, Emma finally starts to feel more at ease. She knows she can't let her guard down too much, but at least while they're at the ranch she knows it's secure and feels like maybe taking a moment to breathe isn't such a bad thing.

Of course, the more time Emma spends on the ranch, the more she starts to enjoy the slower paced living. Her days become repetitious. In the morning, she starts out with a run around the perimeter of the property, followed by check-in with Archie, Killian, Sidney, and the rest of the staff. They have detailed debriefings, go over anything new that has popped up, plan for the next events, and, as always, try their hardest to keep life as normal as possible for Henry at the ranch.

But how normal could life be for a 13 year old whose best friend is a Dalmatian?

Henry's taken quite a shine to Emma, though, and for the first time in her career, she has semi-allowed herself to care for the boy. She has even started archery practice with him and Mary Margaret in the afternoons, and in the evenings? She tries her hardest to steer clear of Regina, but ever since the night Regina showed up on the pool house's door step, they somehow always manage to bump into each other.

Emma comes running along a trail through some fairly thick brush in the early morning and stops almost instantly. She's been doing this perimeter check on foot for the past two weeks and just today decided to run off the beaten path. "Whoa," she breathes, her hands coming up to wipe the sweat off of her brow. Her eyes move quickly, taking in the view of a huge pond with trees surrounding it. The way the early morning sunlight is coming through the trees is definitely breathtaking. On the far side there is a dock and a small fishing boat next to it. Emma takes a few steps, making her way over towards the dock when she sees the brush about twenty feet in front of her start to move. She quickly takes cover, watching from behind some tall willows. She feels her breathing slow when through the brush comes a dark brown horse and on top of it, Regina, wearing her cowboy hat, a white linen shirt, and jeans, and even though Emma has seen the brunette dressed to the nines before, _this_ might be the blonde's favorite version of Regina.

Emma stands when Regina's eyes seem to find her immediately. "Hey," she says, holding her hands out as if to say '_I'm unarmed_.' "I was running and I just, I hope I didn't startle you."

Regina dismounts the horse with ease and leads him over to where Emma is standing. "You didn't, Miss Swan. I saw you running. Although, you lurking around in the weeds is a little strange."

"I saw movement and took cover. It's kind of an instinct." Emma smiles, motions to the horse, "Who's this beautiful guy?"

A grin plasters itself to Regina's face, as if she couldn't hold it back if she tried. "Rocinante."

"_Don Quixote_ fan, eh?"

Regina's eyes go wide as she says, "I'm surprised you know that."

"I'm not surprised that you're surprised," Emma responds, a little irritated, but more hurt than she should be. She makes her way along the edge of the pond, Regina following behind her, leading her horse with them. Emma approaches the dock and places a foot onto the platform. To her surprise, it looks sturdy and new. "Know anything about this? Is it stable?" she asks, motioning towards the dock.

"First thing that was replaced when we moved onto the ranch. Henry loves it out here." Regina loops Rocinante's lead around a branch of the tree by the dock and then walks over to where Emma is standing. She reaches out with an unsteady hand and places it on Emma's forearm, which is warm and slick with sweat. "Look, Emma, I wanted to apologize. When you first got here, I really didn't want to be fussed over like this. It made me uncomfortable and upset and I just hated it. But… I don't know. I just, I want to thank you, for," she pauses, looks anywhere but at those green eyes, and then closes her own eyes, "for _everything_. Henry is happier, all of my people are happier, everyone seems so much _happier_ with you here. And honestly, I'm," she takes a deep breath, lets it fill her lungs and then pushes it back out before finishing with, "I'm happier, too and that's not an easy feat."

Emma watches Regina, her eyes closed, her skin clear of make-up, her hair pulled into a low ponytail. She seems as if she is actually relaxed for once, yet somehow still on edge. There's a part of Emma that wants to make a scene because it feels right. She wants to tell Regina that if she just knocked that chip off of her shoulder earlier, she would have seen that she could have trusted Emma. But she settles on not being confrontational. "You're welcome," she finally responds, before taking the final step to get up onto the dock. She pauses, looks back at Regina, waits for her the brunette's eyes to lock onto hers. "Y'know," she says, her signature lop sided smile showing, "For what it's worth, you look happier." Emma sees the way Regina's face softens at these words and then walks to the very end of the wooden surface. She spreads her arms, leans her head back, takes a deep breath. "It's going to be a perfect day." She hears Regina approaching behind her, the scuff of her boots on the dock. "The Midwest humidity is very unforgiving, but these early summer days when it's still manageable are great."

"I've heard it can get pretty brutal in August," Regina comments, watching as Emma bends down and unties her shoes. She toes them off, one by one, and then hooks a finger in the ankle of her socks and slides those off, too. The blonde sits down and immediately throws her legs over the edge of the dock and hangs her feet into the cool water.

"Ahhhhh, now that's what I call refreshing." She looks up at Regina, standing there with her arms folded across her chest and smiles. "Don't be a stick in the mud, Mills. Get down here."

Regina shakes her head before following Emma's lead, removing her boots, socks, and rolling up the ends of her pants. When she eases her feet into the water, it really does feel insanely wonderful. "Okay, you're right; that's refreshing."

"Told you," Emma says playfully, leaning slightly over to bump Regina with her bare shoulder. The brunette stiffens at the touch and Emma immediately regrets being so friendly. They're not supposed to be friends. This isn't a friendship. This is a _job_. It really is hard to remember that, though, especially with how easy things seem to be going.

"You seem to be settling into the ranch quite well," Regina comments. "I see that you run every morning. And are getting quite good with a bow, according to Mary Margaret and Henry."

Emma feels her cheeks fill with pink. "Yeah, well, I figure I might as well take advantage of the grounds, right?"

"Yes, of course. Although I'm sure your boyfriend misses you."

A loud laugh escapes from Emma's mouth and it echoes around the pond.

"What is so funny?" Regina asks.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Emma responds, still laughing.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because," Emma pauses, "I'm a lesbian, Regina."

"Oh," the brunette says in return, her face turning almost beet red. "I didn't know."

"It's not like we've talked like this before now."

"True," Regina agrees. She takes a breath before asking, "How long do you plan on going to all of my appearances with me?"

"I haven't really thought about it." Emma leans back on the dock, propping herself up with her elbows. She eyes Regina's back, can see the outline of her bra through the thin, white material of her shirt. "As long as it takes to make sure you're safe, I guess. Why?"

"Because, I want to know."

"We kind of already discussed this," Emma explains. "When things calm down completely then we reevaluate the situation."

"I realize that, Miss Swan, but I haven't had another threatening letter in the past couple of weeks. And the last two appearances have been without incident."

"We can talk to Sidney. I know you're eager to move past this part of your life," Emma replies, a sadness washing over her she wishes she could keep away, but unfortunately, the more she gets to know this woman, the more she wants to know her better.

"Please don't take offense. I am simply wondering because what if I," the brunette pauses, bites her bottom lip, "I have a date?"

Emma raises her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I've been thinking and if you're going on _every outing with me_, are you going to be coming with me," Regina looks back at Emma, "on a date? Don't you think that will be weird?"

"Do you have a date that we need to worry about?"

"No," Regina huffs, "But I might _eventually_ have one and I don't really know if I feel comfortable having you as a third wheel."

Emma sits up straight, squints as she looks out across the pond, and says, "When you secure yourself a _man_, I'll figure something out so you can be alone with him." She absolutely loathes the way her stomach flips as those words formulate and pass through her mouth and over her tongue. "I can always find a stand-in, if need be."

"Fine," Regina replies after waiting a few moments. And then all of a sudden she pulls her feet out of the water and quickly starts drying them off, pulling her socks on, and shoves each foot into her boots. She gets to her feet, straightens her shirt and quickly says, "I'd better get going."

Emma stands, her wet, bare feet on the dock, looking after Regina as she unloops the lead to Rocinante and gently pulls him from the tree. "You don't have to do that, you know?" Emma shouts after the brunette.

"Do _what_, Miss Swan?" Regina asks, irritation practically dripping from the words.

"Get shitty with me when you feel yourself actually liking me."

Regina's hand is on her hip and she has a smirk on her mouth when she says, "You realize I can fire you, correct?"

Emma turns around and sits back down, sliding her feet back into the cool water. She lays back onto the dock and props herself up again with her elbows. "Let me know when you want me to leave," she responds, nonchalantly and with an air of superiority she hasn't had the nerve to have around Regina yet. It feels good. And if Regina wasn't still standing there, her mouth slightly hanging open, Emma would have probably jumped into the air and yelled '_woohoo_' at the top of her lungs. She hears Regina's boots hit the dock and before she knows it, the brunette is standing above her. "Yes?" Emma asks, putting a hand up to shield the sun from her eyes.

"What about you just taking me on a date?"

Emma tries her damndest to not _look _like she can't catch her breath as she sits upright, looks back and up at Regina and responds, as eloquently as possible with, "Huh?"

"Wouldn't that solve the problem?" Regina asks, both hands on her hips now, the toe of her one boot is tapping impatiently on the dock. "I mean, especially since you like women. You can make sure no one attacks me, I can get out of the house and not have an entire entourage of people around me. It would solve the problem, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it would," Emma replies, her voice scratchy from the shock.

"Then how about tonight?"

"Tonight would work, but -"

"But what?"

Emma smiles when she hears the uncertainty in Regina's voice. "I'm leaving the ranch for a few hours tonight to go to a party at a friend's. Would you be okay with that?"

"I suppose I could handle that," Regina says with uncertainty in her voice. Gone is the sure of herself actress with the chip on her shoulder. And it makes Emma's insides flutter. "What time?"

"We'll leave at 6:30."

"What should I wear?"

Emma shrugs her shoulder and then motions to what the woman already has on. "That'd be fine," she says, smiling, trying to not sound nervous already.

"Jeans then?"

"It's an outdoor party. At a lake house in Michigan. Jeans would be fine." Emma watches as Regina's eyes search hers and then sees her release a shaky breath before she turns on her boot heels and walks down the dock. When Regina gets to Rocinante, she puts a hand on the horn of the saddle, slides a foot in the stirrup and has mounted the horse before Emma can even process really how she's doing it. She notices that Regina doesn't look back, not once, as she clicks her tongue and the horse starts walking away. When the pair disappears through the brush Emma looks across the pond and smiles. "What the hell," she says with a laugh. "What the _hell_."

* * *

><p>"You're taking my mom on a date?"<p>

Emma looks across the pool house living room at Henry. He's sitting on the couch drinking a bottled water; Pongo by his side. He's so much tanner than he was when Emma first met him and his hair is getting so long. "Henry, it's not really a date, kid. She just wants to get out of the house and asked me to take her. It's not a date."

"Emma, it's a date," Henry replies with a wry smile. He pushes his bangs out of his face. "It's totally okay. I think it's cool. You're the coolest person she has brought into my life."

Emma's heart warms at that comment. She smiles and says, "Yeah, well, you're one of the coolest people in my life, too."

"Of course I am," he says, grinning from ear to ear. "You know she dated Robin, right?"

"God, no. She did?"

"Yeah," Henry answers, patting Pongo on the head. "He's just… I don't know. Kind of a jerk?"

"As long as she hasn't dated Killian."

"No way! She says he wears too much guy-liner."

Emma laughs again. "That is _so _true," she says before she stands up and walks into the kitchen to grab something to drink.

"Did she tell you about her sister?"

She pokes her head around the wall of the kitchen and looks at Henry. "No, she hasn't. Why?"

"Well, she's a little strange. She used to be around, like, all the time. Aunt Zelena. But then they got into an argument one day and that was the last time anyone saw her. It was weird."

"Zelena?" Emma asks after grabbing a beer. She sits down and uncaps it, takes a long drink from it. "I'll have to ask your mom about her."

"Yeah," Henry nods. He takes a few drinks of his water and then twists the cap back on. He looks at Emma, his eyes glassy. "Was mom in danger?"

Emma doesn't know exactly how to respond to this question. She doesn't want to lie to him, so she decides to answer with, "She wasn't in direct danger. Just -"

"There was someone out there that wanted to hurt her?"

Emma raises an eyebrow before she takes a drink of her beer. "You're a smart kid, you know that?"

He smiles, blushes a little and then looks down at his hands. "We were fighting a lot for a while. She was just being so uncool. Yelling at me and stuff and I don't know _why_. I mean, it was hard for her after my dad died, I guess. I never knew him. He died right after I was born. But man, she was just getting so mean." Henry looks up at Emma. "But she's happier since you got here. I don't really know much about love and life and all that, because whatever, I'm not even old enough to care, but she never smiled. And now," he pauses, runs his free hand over Pongo's ears and down his head, "Now she smiles a lot."

"Henry," Emma breathes, her elbows on her knees as she leans forward in the chair. "Maybe she's just feeling better about the house and the security system?"

He lets out a laugh. "Emma, I'm 13. Not 5. It's you."

"You need to stop growing up so fast. Your mom's gonna want to keep you this age forever, you know?"

He laughs and takes the cap off of his water before downing the rest of the bottle.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Emma floors it in her yellow bug as she merges onto the expressway headed north towards Michigan. She glances in her rearview mirrors and finds a good speed to keep up with traffic before relaxing into the driver's seat. She drums her fingers on the steering wheel along with the Florence + the Machine song on the radio. She glances over at Regina, her fingers are gripping the door handle like a lifeline, and Emma lets out a chuckle. "You okay over there?"

"Yes, Miss Swan, I'm fine," Regina responds, almost too quickly.

"You know," Emma starts as she goes to pass a semi-truck, "you should probably consider calling me _Emma_. I mean, if this is a _date _and all." She checks her blind spot, gets into the left lane and zips around the semi. "Unless you want people to start asking all sorts of questions."

Regina breathes out and says so quietly that Emma almost doesn't hear her, "I guess you're right."

"I am right, yes," Emma responds with a smile. She looks over at Regina. "You really need to relax."

"I would if we weren't flying down the road in this death trap. We could have taken one of my cars. Had Archie drive us. Something."

Emma lets out a laugh and pats the steering wheel. "You seriously have nothing to worry about. My trusty steed has never let me down. She has gotten me out of more sticky situations than I can even _begin _to tell you about. She's in ship-shape, too. I promise. I don't drive her for anything other than the fact that I love her."

"It's a _girl_?"

"You're surprised by that?" Emma asks, her eyebrow arching slightly. "Really?"

Regina turns her head to look at Emma, her eyes locking onto those green ones. A small smile comes to her lips before she responds with, "Okay, Emma, I'll trust you… and your girly death trap."

Emma feels her heart leap into her throat as she pulls her eyes from Regina's and focuses back on the road.

"So, whose house are we going to?" Regina asks after a few moments of silence.

"My best friend, August's," Emma answers. "He bought this old house on the coast in New Buffalo and fixed it up. He likes wood-working and carpentry. Sort of a side-job thing. The house is gorgeous and he could see it now and make three times what he paid for it. But he loves it. Our whole group kind of descends upon it in the summer. I think you'll love it." Emma takes a deep breath and looks out the side window at the scenery. "We've been friends for… God, for forever. Grew up together."

"And where was that?"

"Where did we grow up?" Emma glances at Regina and hears her soft '_mmhmm_' before she looks back to the road. "Everywhere, actually."

"Very cryptic," Regina replies with a small laugh. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay with me, Emma."

The blonde feels chills shoot up her spine at the usage of her name again. There's definitely something about the way it sounds when Regina says it. Her voice is so low, so _sexy_. "No, it's not that. We were in foster care together. I mean, neither of us had a family. We were each other's family. We were moved around a lot, but fortunately, they tried to keep us together." Emma all of a sudden feels a feather light touch to the back of her hand that's resting on the gear shift. She looks down quickly, sees Regina's fingers, her hand, and then looks over at the brunette.

"I'm sorry," she says softly.

Emma tries to smile but ends up just looking like someone killed her dog. "It's okay. I'm good now." She feels sad immediately when Regina moves her hand back into her own lap.

"I'm excited to meet your friends. Maybe hear a little bit more about you. It's kind of disconcerting that you know more about me than I do about you."

"You can thank Wikipedia for that. And a website called _Tumblr_."

"Tumblr, hmm?"

"Yes! I was shocked… Whole blogs dedicated to you. It was… it was nice. A lot of pictures. Nice pictures."

Regina lets out a laugh. "I do have a lot of fans."

"Yeah, you do," Emma says, echoing Regina's laugh. "For good reason."

"Oh, really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I did my research. I watched your shows." Emma pauses and then adds, shyly, "And the movies."

"And? What did you think?"

Emma takes a deep breath, keeping her eyes on the road, when she says, her voice shaky, "I think that you're breathtaking." She can hear the sharp intake of breath from Regina and honestly, it takes everything in her to keep the car on the road.

* * *

><p>August has, of course, spared no expense for this party. The food is out of this world, the music is rigged up to the outdoor sound system, there are strands of lights in the trees, and the private beach that runs right up to Lake Michigan is absolutely beautiful. The fire on the beach is roaring and there are beach chairs and large outdoor pillows surrounding it.<p>

Regina is sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs, her skinny jean clad legs crossed, her black strappy sandals sitting next to her in the sand. Emma is standing on the other side of the fire, August on one side of her, David on the other. Bob Marley is on the speakers, asking _Is This Love _and seriously, it's almost as if the entire playlist was put together to make this night perfect. She takes a long drink from her beer, continues to watch the brunette as she talks to Ruby.

"So, that didn't take long," August says with a smile.

"Yeah, like, what? A month? Not even, right?" David taps his koozy covered beer can against August's and laughs. "Quick-draw McGraw over here."

"Tell us, is it the tank tops that sealed the deal, Emma?" August asks, his eyebrows in his hairline while he downs his beer. "Or the insanely tight jeans?"

"_Really_?" Emma asks, irritated slightly, but definitely more embarrassed.

David leans his head back and laughs, then slugs August on the arm. "You're such an ass," he comments, still laughing.

August grins, looks at Emma, and says quietly, "It's like that movie, though, right? Kevin Costner. Whitney Houston. Where he falls for her and protects her and loves her and, awww, _swoon_."

"Yeah, yeah!" David practically shouts. "_The Bodyguard_!"

Emma shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "You guys are seriously the worst friends _ever_."

"No, we are the _best_ friends ever." August drapes his arm over Emma's shoulder and squeezes lightly. "You do have some phenomenal luck."

Emma feels her cheeks fill with pink. "It's not like that, though. I just -"

"You like her?" David interjects.

"Yeah."

"That's good," August comments before pushing Emma slightly. "You know I tease you because I love you."

"I know," Emma replies, her eyes filling slightly with tears. "You're still a fucker, though."

"This is very true," he agrees. "Go. Sit by her."

Emma waits a beat before she takes off towards Regina and Ruby. "What are you two talking about?" she asks as she pulls up a pillow and sits down in front of Regina's chair. She leans her back against it, feels Regina's leg press into her side, hears Oasis singing _Wonderwall_ on the speakers.

"I'm just fangirling like an asshole," Ruby laughs. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Regina says softly. "You're adorable."

"Oh, Em, I'm makin' a move on your girl here. You'd better watch out," Ruby comments, pushing on Emma's shoulder with her long fingers.

Emma feels Regina lean forward in the chair, place a hand on her arm, and then squeeze lightly. Emma looks back at Ruby. "I _always_ win. You know that," Emma says, the cockiness just oozing from her words.

"This is very, very, _very_ true." Ruby gives Emma a mock salute and then goes to stand up. "On that note, Regina, I am going to let Emma continue to charm your pants off. I'll catch up with you two later."

Regina lets out a low laugh. She pushes gently on Emma, instructs her to sit up so she can pull her blonde hair from behind her. "Sit back," Regina then says seconds before she starts running her fingers through Emma's hair.

"Oh, my god," Emma pushes out, leaning her head back into Regina's hands. "This is… Holy shit… What did I do to deserve this?"

"You got me out of the house. I'm just a _normal _person for once. And you keep giving me alcohol. I'm pretty inebriated right now, so honestly? I'm the most relaxed I've been in months."

"My evil plan is working then."

"Yeah, well," Regina starts, pressing her fingers down Emma's neck and onto her shoulders. "Evil plan or not, I feel like I might have the upper hand right now." She pulls gently on the blonde's hair, making her lean her head back even further. "You are right where I want you, after all."

Emma feels the heat rise from her center towards the pit of her stomach. She gathers her self-confidence and responds with, "Maybe _you're_ right where _I _want you. Ever think about that?"

A low laugh spills from Regina's mouth as she leans forward, pressing her lips against Emma's ear. "You," she says, her breath rushing against the blonde's skin, "are most definitely winning this one."

"Regina," Emma whispers, turning slightly so she can look at the brunette. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know," Regina replies, her eyes smiling. They sit in silence for a few moments, listening to the fire, Emma's friends laughing and talking on the opposite side of the fire, and the waves from the lake. The sun had recently set, so the sky was filled with oranges and pinks, making it look like a painting. "I never knew the Midwest was so _beautiful_."

Emma lets out a laugh. "There's more than corn in the Midwest," she says before drinking her beer. "Except for Indiana. Indiana only has corn."

Regina takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly before saying, "I hope this night never ends."

"I know what you mean," Emma replies after waiting a few seconds to answer. Her ears perk as she hears the song on the sound system. She glances over at August and David, both of them cracking up while August pumps his iPod in the air, a sign of victory. Emma shakes her head, looks back at the brunette, and asks, "Do you hear the song?"

"Yeah," Regina answers, a grin slowly starting to spread across her lips.

"August and David think they're being real funny," Emma comments, nodding towards where the two are standing, now joined by Ruby. A streak of courage courses through Emma's body and she clears her throat gently. "Dance with me."

Regina laughs. "What? Right here?"

"Yes. Right here. I've always wanted to dance to this song."

Regina eyes light up. "You always wanted to dance to _I Will Always Love You_?"

"Yes!" Emma laughs. "The Whitney Houston version! And those assholes think they're being funny and we're just going to capitalize on it and it'll be perfect. Come on!" She turns quickly, gets to her bare feet and holds a hand out to Regina. "Dance with me."

Regina can't look anywhere but at the blonde standing in front of her. She takes Emma's outstretched hand and lets herself be pulled up into those strong arms. "Won't everyone just stare?"

"Let them," Emma answers, taking a couple steps with Regina and then turns to face her. She feels the brunette's arms wrap around her neck, draping over her shoulders as Emma slides her own arms around Regina's waist, their height different much more apparent when Regina isn't wearing shoes.

"Emma?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you really willing to die for me?"

The blonde can't help the small laugh that comes from her throat. She sighs, pulling back to look down at Regina.

"Why is that funny?"

"It's not _funny_," Emma protests. "It's just… it's my job. Of course I'm willing to die for you."

Regina moves her hand, slides her nails along the soft skin on the back of Emma's arm. "Why did you choose protecting people as a job?"

"Well, I can't sing," Emma pushes out, her breath catching in her throat from the feel of the brunette's nails dragging along her skin.

A chuckle escapes from Regina's mouth this time and she leans slightly forward so she's closer to Emma's ear. "I'm sure you sound okay," she whispers playfully. "But protecting _me…_?I'm no President of the United States."

"It's a job, Regina," Emma says pulling back again to look at the brunette. "I was trained to not let things get in the way… feelings, emotions, my heart."

"This is probably not at all what's supposed to be happening then." Regina reaches forward with a trembling hand and moves a lock of hair away from Emma's cheek. She pushes it gently behind the blonde's ear. "It's probably making it a lot harder for you to focus… a lot harder for you to keep it professional."

"Well, there's that," Emma starts. "And there's the fact that the more I get to know you, the more I can't imagine letting anything _ever _happen to you." She presses her hand against the small of Regina's back.

"Has this ever happened before?" Regina whispers.

"No. But," She waits a beat and finishes with, "There hasn't been a woman president yet, though."

Regina leans back, a shocked expression on her face and Emma bursts out laughing. "Oh, you little shit," the brunette laughs.

"Don't worry," Emma says softly after she finishes laughing. "I don't make a habit of this."

"I hope not."

* * *

><p>After giving Regina the choice of going back to the ranch or driving an extra 30 minutes to Emma's, the blonde isn't completely surprised when Regina chooses Chicago. Of course, it was only after being reassured that Ruby was not going to be there.<p>

And promising that they would be alone.

Just the two of them

In Emma's house.

To say that Emma is nervous is a bit of an understatement. She tries to keep her cool, though as she hands Regina a glass filled with sparkling water and vodka, a lime hanging onto the side of the tumbler. She watches as Regina takes a sip, looks back at a bookshelf filled with photographs and other memorabilia. Emma then finds a seat on the couch, leaning back and sighing, taking in the very, _very _nice view.

"Volleyball, hmm?" Regina asks, a smirk playing on those full red lips.

Emma laughs, "Yeah, well, it got me through college."

"You look like you were quite the athlete."

"I was," Emma responds, taking a drink of her own beverage.

"What position?"

"Left side."

Regina looks back at Emma, "You mean 'strong side?'" Emma shrugs her shoulders in response, her face flushing slightly. Regina bends down and looks at a bunch of figurines on the second to last shelf. "Star Wars… I would have never known."

"Why do you think Henry likes me so much?"

"Because you're _you_," Regina answers without even thinking. She stands upright and turns to look at Emma, her hand on her hip, the other on her drink. "Do you bring a lot of women back to your place?"

"I've had a few back here, yeah," Emma responds. "None of them were as excited about my Star Wars collectables as you, though."

"Oh, I'm sure." Regina smiles. "How long have you lived here?" she asks, motioning around the living room with her drink in her hand.

"I grew up in Chicago. Bought the house right after school. Then, you know, worked my way into the police academy, FBI, secret service…" Emma's voice trails off when Regina takes a couple steps with bare feet towards her. She has her black, sheer shirt unbuttoned to the third button revealing a black bra, and it's honestly all Emma can do to form a coherent sentence. "Ruby has been my roommate since college," Emma finishes, her voice low, her eyes watching as Regina sets her drink on the end table next to the couch and then takes Emma's drink and does the same thing with it. "We, uh, went to college together," she adds softly when Regina's hands land on either side of Emma's shoulders. Her face is inches from Emma's, her brunette hair softly falling over her shoulders. She hears, more than sees, Regina's knees plant themselves firmly on each side of Emma's thighs. "We, um, yeah, that."

Regina lets out a breathy laugh as she's straddling Emma's lap. "_That_, hmm?"

"Um, yeah, that."

"What's _that_?" Regina asks, her lips mere centimeters from Emma's ear now.

"I don't fucking know," Emma whispers while her hands slide up Regina's tight thighs and around to grip her backside. "Or care."

"Emma," Regina breathes right against the blonde's earlobe.

Emma snakes her hands up and under Regina's sheer shirt, running her nails along the soft skin of her back. "Hmm?" she asks, her hands sliding up to the clasp of Regina's bra.

"If I asked you to make love to me, would you?"

Emma feels her heart clench in her chest, her panties damped immediately, and her mouth go dry instantaneously. "Jesus," she manages to push out before Regina pulls away and looks into her eyes.

"I need you to _make love _to me," the brunette says when she moves her hands to cup Emma's face. "Take this fear away."

"Regina…"

And with that, Regina leans forward and captures Emma's lips with her own. Emma wraps her strong arms around the brunette and in one easy, fluid movement is able to stand from the couch. Regina wraps her legs around Emma's hips as they kiss, moving through the house towards the bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **

**I am so very sorry for yet another delay in the update! I have been so sick lately and unfortunately I just couldn't write. But I am on the mend. Yay!**

**Also, I want everyone to remember that I am trying to have this follow the premise of the movie The Bodyguard as CLOSELY as possible. Yes, I took some lines DIRECTLY from the script. If you've seen the movie you'll probably recognize which ones. I didn't really want to do that a whole lot - so this is honestly the second time and probably won't continue to happen. But this time I need to because it helped build the scene.**

**I am trying to make this my own, of course, though! And I want everyone to try and trust me... Just a little bit.**

**One other thing... I wanted to thank EVERY SINGLE PERSON that has commented on this story. You all have made me smile and laugh and few have made me cry (happy tears). Writing is such a labor of love and it's so scary to take it and post it for the world to see. So when it's received well... sigh, it's just nice. So, thank you!**

**Happy reading!**

**Chapter 8**

Emma knows that the minute she rips the first button on Regina's shirt that it doesn't matter that she shouldn't be doing this. She couldn't stop it even if she really wanted to.

And let's be honest. She definitely doesn't want to stop it. She's wanted this woman since the first moment she saw her.

Emma has always held herself together. She was highly trained to keep her fucking shit _together_. Years and years of training - physical and mental - went into conditioning herself to be a hard ass, to protect and serve. This is business,_ not personal_.

Maybe it's because she just came off of her duty with the President, or maybe it's just because she was starting to like every single thing about Regina Mills, but it didn't seem to matter what her training told her.

She knows she needs to stop... She knows it isn't right... Yet...

It's the way Regina arches her back and whispers Emma's name like a prayer...

And the way Regina smiles and smiles and smiles when Emma's fingers quickly remove Regina's black lace panties...

And Regina's voice when she says very softly how much she loves this...

And it's the way Regina giggles, honest to God _giggles_, when Emma says she feels like she should blog about this on Tumblr later…

All of it is what makes Emma feel like everything in her life may have been leading up to this very moment.

The words "This is a _job_" only fly through her mind once. And the same for "Regina is my _boss_." And mixing business with pleasure… Well, we all know that doesn't work.

But _goddammit_...

With Regina Mills' naked body underneath her, their bare legs intertwined, Emma's thigh pressed against the brunette's wet center… She doesn't really care what she's doing or if she's going to regret this. It all feels so _right_ and so perfect that she can't quite think straight. And as she latches her lips onto Regina's neck, bites down light on her pulse point, runs her tongue along her jawline, she knows all that matters right now is that this woman wants to feel _loved_. And _safe_.

And if Emma is the only one that can do that?

So fucking be it.

Emma places a soft kiss on Regina's lips as she drags her thigh up across Regina's center. She's wet and ready and Emma can _barely _handle it. She lets go of those full lips, looks into those brown eyes and asks, quietly, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, Emma," Regina's voice is low, her hands run up Emma's bare back and then back down. "I am so okay. So, so, _sooo_ okay." She smiles, genuine, beautiful, _heartbreaking_.

Emma feels her heart clench in her chest. "_So_ okay, hmm?"

A laugh bubbles from Regina's throat, it's deep like her voice and it makes Emma's inside melt. "Yes, so _very_ okay. The most okay I've ever been… Oddly enough."

"Well, then," Emma whispers, places a gentle kiss on Regina's nose, then her lips, then her chin. "Let's not waste any more time." She cocks an eyebrow before she pushes herself up with her strong arms, kneels on either side of one of Regina's legs and then flips her hair over her left shoulder.

"Jesus," Regina breathes. "You're so _beautiful_."

Emma immediately feels her entire body blush before she leans down and smiles against Regina's soft skin, right in her cleavage. "Not really," she replies, quietly, her breath causing goose bumps to rise on Regina's skin.

It's sad really, how Emma can't seem to take a compliment and she hates herself sometimes for it. She wants to be able to say thank you and move on with her life… But she can't and she doesn't know why. It has taken years of therapy and rounds and rounds of bullets to be able to even deal with herself these days. So hearing Regina, and the sincerity, and seeing the look in her eyes, all it does is make Emma's chest tighten and her throat clench.

She feels Regina's hands thread through her hair before hearing her say, "Yes, you are." And that's when Emma uses her forefinger and thumb to lightly tease the brunette's nipples. Deflection. It's a tactic she's been using since she was a kid. And thankfully, it still works. She hears the soft gasp, followed by the sexy-as-fuck moan. Emma brings her head up to look up at Regina, her head arched back, her neck exposed. Another smile and before she knows it, she feels Regina pulling on her, urging her to kiss her.

Emma giggles as she gives in, her lips crashing into Regina's with more passion than she thought could exist. She moves a hand down Regina's body while they kiss, dancing her fingers over the brunette's belly button, across her hip bones, down, down, down.

"I've never," Regina breathes, breaking apart from Emma's lips, "Before… with a woman."

There's a voice inside Emma's head that throws off a warning cry. Not only is this Emma's client, but she's also a _completely _straight woman? _Well, if you're gonna fuck up, might as well do it all the way, right?_

A sly smile and an eyebrow raise are on Emma's face before she makes eye contact with the brunette. She licks her lips, stills her hand, and takes a deep breath. "I'll be gentle," Emma reassures, her voice deep, smooth.

"I know you will be. I trust you," Regina whispers.

Emma moves her hand lower, following the curve of the brunette's muscles, until her fingers slide gently through Regina's wetness and she hears a soft gasp from underneath her. "You're so wet," she breathes when she bends her head down and places her lips on Regina's. "God."

"Yes, Miss Swan, I'm _definitely_ wet," she responds in between kisses and breaths. And then as Emma slips another finger inside of her, she gasps and says, "_Dammit_," clenching her teeth.

"Am I hurting you?" Emma immediately asks, her voice full of concern.

Regina chuckles, digs her nails into Emma's back opens her legs wider. "Emma, no, God, just…" Regina moves her hand down and covers Emma's with her own. "I need you. Don't stop, please. Don't stop."

"Okay," Emma complies, her fingers finding a rhythm again, sliding gently in and out of Regina, her thumb brushing Regina's clit on every back and forth pass, feeling the brunette grasping at her back, hearing the moans and gasps. Emma adjusts herself so she is hovering over Regina, pumping, her forearm starting to burn, when she feels a knee come up in between her own thighs. She groans, almost instantly finding a rhythm against Regina's soft skin.

"Emma?" comes Regina's breathy voice, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip.

"Yes?"

Regina finds Emma's eyes in the darkness. "I could fall in love with you," she says, breathy and raspy, right before she leans her head back and her orgasm hits her body like a tidal wave.

Emma's heart leaps into her chest as she feels her own orgasm approaching from riding Regina's thigh and just as a second orgasm starts to hit the brunette, Emma's cascades through her own body. She stills her fingers as her forehead rests against Regina's. "Holy shit," she breathes as Regina's hands land on either side of her face. What the hell did Regina say to her? Did she hear her right? "Regina?"

"Yes?" She responds, her voice still shaky from the orgasm.

"What?"

Regina smiles, her arms wrapping around Emma. "Stop. Don't think. Just," she pulls on Emma. "Kiss me," the brunette instructs. "Kiss me. And then let's do it all over again."

Emma laughs and takes a deep breath. "You're the boss," she replies before she starts to slide down the bed.

"Where are you going?" Regina asks, propping herself on her elbows.

"I'm doing it all over again… with my mouth." A smile spreads across Emma's face when Regina lets out a laugh that quickly changes to a gasp and then a moan when Emma slides her tongue inside of the brunette.

* * *

><p>Emma leans over the sink in her bathroom, swishes mouthwash in her mouth, spits, then looks in the mirror. She can see Regina's sleeping figure, then stares back at her own reflection. "What are you doing?" she whispers. In the warm, bright light of day, all of her actions from last night are coming back to haunt her. Her stomach is in knots, she can barely breathe, and honestly, she's a hot fucking mess.<p>

_I could fall in love with you._

"Dammit," Emma breathes as she bites down on her lower lip. This is a _job._

Emma Swan doesn't let her emotions get tied up like this. She never has and she took a vow that she _never would._ And _now_? She has gone and let herself get way too deep. And Regina? Emma pretended to not hear when the brunette said how she could fall in love, because truth be told? Emma was already there. And it was scaring the living shit out of her. She could barely handle it. She was ruining everything. She had ruined everything by agreeing to take this woman on a date. She knew better than to say yes! And yet, she fell right into those eyes and those arms and those legs and that laugh and smile and _fuck_...

She has fucked up.

_Royally_.

She bites down on the inside of her cheek, hard enough to almost draw blood before whipping around and leaving the bathroom.

Emma's stomach drops to her knees when she sees Regina stir, open her eyes, and prop herself up with an elbow. Oh God, and the sheet falls and Jesus… Her resolve is teetering on the precipice. How can this woman look so fucking amazing at 7:30 in the morning after a night full of the hottest sex either of them have ever had? "We need to get going," Emma says, her words short, to the point. They taste like bile in her mouth.

Regina instantly senses that something is wrong. "Okay," she replies quietly. "Is everything alright?"

"Yep," Emma replies. "Fine. Just get up, get dressed. You have a full day today. I have to get you home so we can get you back to the set at 3."

"Emma," Regina says as she reaches for the blonde.

Emma moves her hand and fidgets with her pockets. "Come on, Regina. You need to get up."

"What's going on, Emma?"

Emma stops what she is doing and turns to look at Regina. The woman's eyes are sad and it honestly takes everything in Emma to not crumble under her intense stare. "I feel like maybe we shouldn't have done what we did last night." And that's when Regina's face falls. Emma's heart almost squeezes itself to death in her chest. "I don't want to get confused. This is still a job and I just… I feel like it will just confuse me. Confuse you."

Regina blinks, her face going from hurt to pissed off in the matter of a second, and pulls the sheet up to cover her naked body. "I'm not confused."

"Well, maybe_ I_ am."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Emma says quickly. She knows she's fucking things up even more. She can feel it in her heart. "You did nothing wrong."

"Then tell me what happened?"

"I just need to take a step back from this. I'm really sorry."

"Don't apologize," she says, her voice deep. "I just wish you would tell me what I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong, Regina!" Emma snaps. "I should have never done this! I shouldn't be fucking my client!"

"Your 'client?'" Regina asks, her voice breaking.

Emma walks towards the door of her bedroom and stops. "Get dressed. I'll be in the car."

* * *

><p>"So…"<p>

Emma pulls back an arrow and takes a deep breath. "What?"

"What'd you do to piss off mom?" Henry asks, and as he asks, Emma lets her arrow loose and it careens off and misses the target by a long shot.

She drops her bow to her side and huffs, "What are you talking about?"

Henry lets out a laugh, positions himself in his stance and then does the same with his arrow, only his hits the target almost directly in the bull's eye. "She told me you two had a fight. And that you're being an idiot." He looks over towards Emma, a smirk on his face. "So, what'd you do?"

"Henry," Emma starts as she plops down on the ground and pulls her knees up to her chest. "This is just not something I think we should discuss." She hasn't really talked to Regina since they arrived home the day before. The ride home was horrific, the event they were supposed to attend was canceled and needless to say, Regina hasn't spoken a word to Emma. For good reason, of course. And Emma knows it. She knows she deserves the silent treatment. Shit, she deserves a hell of a lot more than that. And it nauseates her to think about how badly she has hurt Regina. She can't stop thinking about how badly she has messed everything up. But she can't go back. She can't forget what her job is. She can't let all of this get in the way. Right? _Right_?

"Lemme guess," he says, letting another arrow fly, this time actually hitting the bull's eye directly. He takes another arrow and loads it and shoots it at Emma's target, hitting next to one of her arrows from earlier.

"Show off," she mumbles under her breath.

"Are you being all weird because this is supposed to be like you protecting her and you went and fell in love with her like some sort of horribly written movie?"

Emma's eyes go wide and she shakes her head. "What? No. No, that's not it at all."

Henry lets out a puff of air and then spins around to look down at Emma on the ground. "I know you think I'm like a dumb kid, but I'm the most observant person, like, _ever_. I mean, come _on_. Not to mention the fact that Mary Margaret has me reading at a tenth grade level."

Emma takes a deep breath and looks away from Henry, over one of her shoulders and then the other. She taps her feet on the ground and then finally lets her breath out before saying, "You know, kid, I have been around a lot of people in my life." He sits down where he's standing, crosses his legs and places his bow over them. "And I've gotten pretty good at reading them, like I can tell when people are good or bad or if they're lying or -"

"Like a super power?"

Emma laughs. "Yeah, like a super power." She stretches her legs out and crosses them at her ankles, not even caring that she's getting filthy in the dirt. "But your mom?" She pauses, leans her head down and looks at her lap. "I can't read her very well at all and it scares me."

"Can I give you some advice?" Henry asks after waiting a few beats before speaking. Emma looks up at him, a small smile on her face and nods. "You gotta stop acting like she's like anyone else you've ever met before."

Emma's heart leaps into her throat at those words. How can a 13 year old be so smart? "You think so, kid?"

"I know so, Em," he says, smiling before pushing his hair away from his forehead. He looks behind her and his face immediately falls. "Oh, man, here comes Killian."

Emma looks over her shoulder at the approaching leather clad Killian. "What?" she asks before he can open his mouth.

He tosses a magazine at her. A copy of _Entertainment Weekly_ lands in her lap. On the cover is Regina Mills from her latest photo shoot. The headline reads: _Emmy Bound Mills, It's About Time_. Emma looks up at Killian. "Is this a problem?"

"No, it's not a problem. She's a sure thing. Of course you already knew that, didn't you, Swan."

Emma glances at Henry, stands immediately, takes the magazine and shoves it into Killian's chest. "You'd better walk away _right _this instant, you sorry excuse for a human being." She watches him retreat, her hands on her hips, when she feels Henry standing beside her. "I'm sorry about that, kid."

He looks up at her and shrugs. "Just fix it with her, Emma," he says with so much sincerity that it almost makes the blonde's eyes fill with tears.

"Okay," she whispers. "Okay."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I just want to thank you all for the kind reviews! I'm sorry if I haven't responded to yours yet - I will! I promise! **

**I have had so much fun adapting this movie - seriously! So very happy that you are all enjoying the ride!**

**Happy reading!**

**Chapter 9**

"Yeah, I know," Emma says into the phone as she stands in the lobby of the hotel in Hollywood, where the latest press junket has taken them. "I know, August. Just please make sure that Henry is safe."

"Em, you know me. Ain't nothing getting in or out of this place. Henry's secure, my friend. Just stay safe yourself."

"I will."

"And keep that little woman safe," August says with a chuckle.

Emma takes a deep breath and squeezes the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, well, that's my _top_ priority." She tries her hardest to not sound like anything has changed, but she knows the slight waver in her voice is a dead giveaway.

"What happened?" August immediately prods. "Did you fuck up already? It's been less than a week."

"No, August, I didn't _fuck_ up. I just," Emma pauses, scuffs the heel of her shoe on the marble floor, "I can't protect her and be involved with her. I can't keep it separate." She hears August's disapproval come through in his ragged breath and then when he clears his throat it's almost as if he's telling her she's a giant asshole. "Tell me how you really feel," she comments, dryly.

He lets out a laugh. "Em, I know you think it's easier to protect someone when no strings are attached. And honestly, 99% of the time, you're probably right. But we all know that for this woman, you'd take another bullet if it came right down to it. Loving her isn't a bad thing. I wish you could see that."

"I hate how you think you're so fucking smart," Emma rasps, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. "I gotta go, you fucker. I'll talk to you later. Protect that kid. If something happens to him, I'll rip your balls off."

August's deep laugh is all Emma hears before she disconnects and glances around her surroundings. She makes her way through the lobby and cases the perimeter. She walks the loop of the restaurant of the hotel, the kitchen, the lounge area, the pool, and the fitness area. Everything looks secure - business as usual, which is good to know.

She jumps onto an open elevator and rides it up to the penthouse, getting out at the top floor and straightening her suit jacket over her simple red scoop neck shirt. She has kept her hair down the last couple of outings, not in the mood for the headache the bun inevitably causes, and also, selfishly wanting Regina to notice her.

A jolt of need and desire races through Emma's veins when she gets to the penthouse door. Things have been so insanely tense and uncomfortable between Regina and herself that it really would be easier if she just cut her ties and ran. It's what she does best, after all. Drop it all and fucking take off. It's easier and _safer_ and no one gets hurt.

Except in this case… _Everyone_ gets hurt.

Regina gets hurt.

Henry gets hurt.

And Emma… Emma gets hurt. She's _already_ hurting. And she's hating herself more and more every single day that she's around Regina.

She slides the card key into the lock, waits a beat for the green indicator light and then enters the penthouse. The room is absolutely ridiculous in size. The entryway is bigger than Emma's first apartment, and then it opens into a huge seating area, steps lead up to a living area and then floor to ceiling windows surround the entire room. The decorations are tasteful, contemporary, everything Regina loves, and the dark hardwood floors go perfectly with the marble flooring in the entryway and seating area. The kitchen is just as enormous and the bedrooms… Well, let's just say one person doesn't really need that much space. Emma glances around, noticing all of the commotion in the penthouse. There are all sorts of workers milling around, preparing for a party that Killian thought would be a good idea for Regina to throw after the junket.

Emma, of course said no.

Killian overruled Emma's stance and since their blow up, Regina has done everything in her power to disobey Emma at almost every turn.

It's _infuriating_.

"Emma," Archie says as he trots down the steps from the living area of the penthouse. He eyes her over the top of his glasses. "Is everything okay?"

Emma nods her head, shows no emotion, and bites her bottom lip. She glances in Regina's direction and locks eyes with the brunette briefly before pulling her eyes back to look at Archie. "Everything's fine. The hotel is secure. The fans know she's here, though, so we need to be careful."

"Okay. We will be." Archie puts his hand on Emma's arm and squeezes. "Are _you_ alright?"

"Yeah, Archie, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" He asks, keeping his eyes on hers as she looks anywhere but at the brunette across the room.

Emma lets out a puff of air and then chuckles. "Of course. I'm the _bodyguard_. I'm paid to be _fine_, right?"

Archie nods his head. He knows she is far from fine. And he's heard the rumors flying around Regina's entourage. He knows what's really going on. "Okay, Emma. If you say so."

"I do," Emma replies, semi-forcefully. "Just stay vigilant out there tonight. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Will do, boss," Archie responds, nodding and pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Sidney," Emma half shouts, raising her hand in the air and signaling that it's time.

"Regina," Sidney says. "Let's go."

"Is the perimeter _secure_? All the crevices _checked_?" Regina sarcastically asks just loud enough for Emma to hear, an eyebrow arched towards her hairline.

Emma rolls her eyes and places her hands on her hips. "If you'd like to be safe while you're here, Mills, you'll let me do my job."

"Oh, I _know_. Your precious little _job_. I remember what _your_ job is, Miss Swan. No need to remind _me_."

Emma slowly shakes her head, her mouth open slightly in an attempt to form a comeback. But she turns away from Regina and walks away. "Five minutes."

* * *

><p>The junket is successful and thankfully, nothing crazy goes down. As they're walking towards the exit, though, Emma can see that Killian is whispering something to Regina.<p>

"Killian, what the hell are you doing?" Emma asks as she wraps a firm hand around his bicep. Her nails almost pierce the leather she's gripping him so hard.

He jerks his arm away, trying to loosen Emma's grin. "Unhand me, Swan. We need to get Regina out there to her fans."

"No, we do not," Emma says forcefully.

"You know nothing about stardom, love," Killian practically shouts over the sound of the crowds. "If she doesn't do this, her career dies!"

"Killian," Emma shouts, grabbing his arm again. "If she _does _this she _could_ die! What don't you understand about that!"

"Look," he says as he spins around, pushing Regina slightly out of the way so she can't hear him. He pulls Emma closer to him so his face is only an inch away from hers. "This woman is my client and if you don't like how I deal with her celebrity, you can get yourself another job. She _will _make these appearances and she _will _listen to every last word I say. Do you hear me?"

Emma clenches her teeth, narrows her eyes, and places a firm hand on his chest before she makes a fist with his shirt intertwined in it. "Let go of me, you asshole, or I will fucking take out my gun and place a bullet in your head." She feels his grip on her loosen up and he takes a step back from her. "And for your information, she is _my client_, too, and I give a shit about what happens to her. Unlike you, who _only_ cares about a goddamn paycheck."

"Are we doing this or what?" Regina suddenly asks, still standing as regal as ever, her red, long form-fitting dress clinging to all the right places, waiting to leave the lobby of the hotel where the junket was held.

"No," Emma says forcefully.

"Yes," Killian then corrects. "We are."

"Calm down, Miss Swan. And protect me. Isn't this what I'm paying you for?" Regina asks, her voice laced with anger and peppered with hurt feelings. "

Emma tilts her head, her eyes pleading with the woman. "Regina," she starts, placing a hand on the brunette's arm. "This isn't a good idea."

"Let's do this," Regina says as she turns on her heels, and whisks towards the exit.

Emma rushes up to where Regina is and looks at the woman. "You have a death wish, don't you?" she almost shouts above the sound of the crowd.

"No," Regina answers. "It just feels really good when people _aren't _ashamed to love me."

Emma feels her words sting like a slap across the face as she squeezes herself in between the fans and Regina. She watches the brunette, sees how she keeps glancing at her, how their eyes keep locking, how this isn't about Regina wanting to be famous.

It's about getting back at Emma and that thought makes her want to vomit.

* * *

><p>Watching Regina mix and mingle with all of the industry people is enough to make Emma want to get insanely drunk, but she knows she can't, which makes her want to drink <em>even more.<em>

Instead, she drinks from her glass of Perrier and tries to act like it has enough vodka in it to kill a small horse. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, it's not working. At all.

"Emma _Swan_."

Emma hears the voice from behind her and turns around. "Graham? Holy shit, what are you doing here?" She immediately lunges forward, embracing the slender man standing there in his matching vest and pants, a loose tie around his neck. "You look great!"

He lets out a laugh and slides a finger down Emma's cheek. "You look incredible, Emma." He smiles then and leans against the wall where they're standing, the entire party in their vision. "I heard about you, taking that bullet for the President. That's pretty amazing, Emma."

A blush fills her cheeks and for the first time in a week, she forgets the sadness that is in her heart. "Yeah, well, secret service isn't all it's cracked up to be."

He laughs, "You don't say? I'm here for Idina Menzel. She'll be here soon. I'm her back-up bodyguard."

"Oh, really?" Emma asks, her eyebrows raised and a smile on her face. "That's a nice gig."

"Yeah, it's not too bad. She doesn't really need me. She has another bodyguard." Graham looks around the room. "And you're here for…?"

"Regina Mills. I'm her's."

"You're _her's_?"

"You know what I mean." Emma rolls her eyes and goes to raise her glass of Perrier when it's suddenly taken away from her.

"God, this party is going to be the death of me," Regina says as she raises the glass to her lips. "I need a drink." She takes a long sip and then shakes her head. "Jesus, there's nothing in this."

Emma can hear in Regina's voice that she is already highly intoxicated. Her eyelids are heavy and even her movements are indicating that she's three sheets to the wind. Emma nods her head and looks down at the ground. "I think you've had enough," Emma says softly and in return gets a glare from the brunette that could turn a person to stone.

Regina hands the glass back and motions a graceful hand towards Graham. "And who is this handsome devil?"

"Graham Humbert," he says, taking Regina's long fingers and placing a kiss on the top of her hand.

Regina slides an arm around Emma's shoulders, keeping her eyes on Graham's. "I see you've had the pleasure of meeting my bodyguard," the brunette says with a sarcastic laugh.

Graham says, "Oh, yes. We used to work together. FBI."

Regina looks at Emma, raises an eyebrow, and then looks back at Graham. "Oh, I _see_. Well, are you working now?" Her voice is low, sexy, and it is driving Emma absolutely nuts.

He glances between Emma and Regina. "Not right now," he says, wagging his brows at the brunette.

"Well, then, why don't you come with me and get me a _real _drink?" She pulls on Graham's hand and leads him away, glancing over her shoulder at Emma as they retreat.

Emma looks away, her heart in her chest, her knees wanting to give out from under her. She glances back up and finds them in the crowd drinking and he's whispering something into Regina's ear. She laughs, leans her head back, exposes her neck and it makes Emma want to jump off the roof. She tries to pull her eyes away, but can't. She keeps watching as the pair gets closer and closer as the night carries on. And just when Emma is about one million percent positive she can't handle anymore of their public display of affection, Regina is pulling Graham up two or three steps towards the penthouse bedroom. Emma clenches her fist, feels the tears well up in her eyes, and almost loses it all over the marble floor as the door to the bedroom closes.

Emma pushes off of the wall and walks over towards the open bar. The bartender looks at her, nods his head, asks her what she'd like.

"That bottle of Absolut, please." She points, casually, but also keeps her voice firm because there's no way she's leaving the bar area without that fucking bottle.

"The _bottle_, miss?"

"Yes, the bottle. _Now_."

He looks at her again, a little closer this time and notices her red eyes and the way she clearly means business. He hands over an unopened bottle of Absolut and smiles. "Promise me you won't drive anywhere?"

Emma shrugs. "I promise," she replies as she turns around and heads out towards the balcony.

* * *

><p>Emma watches from the dining table in the morning when Regina's door opens and she stumbles out, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and her face completely clear of make up. The hotel housekeeping staff is finishing the final clean up of the penthouse from the party and aren't exactly being quiet about it, so it's clear to anyone that sees Regina that she's not thrilled and she's most definitely annoyed.<p>

She walks over to the bar area where there is a carafe of coffee and pours herself a cup before sitting on a stool. Emma watches her take a sip, her hand slowly moving to her forehead where she starts rubbing it. A smile spreads across Emma's face while she munches on the English muffin without her even realizing and unfortunately, Regina sees it when she opens her eyes and looks at her.

"What are you smiling about, Miss Swan?" Regina's voice is only half as harsh as she probably wanted it to sound.

Emma shrugs her shoulder and continues to chew. "Nothing," she replies around a mouthful of food. "Just enjoying breakfast."

"Yeah, well," Regina starts as she grabs a bagel from the bread tray and goes to take a bite. She points a finger at Emma first, though and finishes her thought with, "Find something else to laugh about. My life isn't amusing."

"You're right," Emma says, standing up and grabbing her cup of coffee from the table. She walks past Regina and feels the brunette grab onto her arm. "What?" she asks, obviously not in the mood after seeing Regina with Graham last night.

"I _didn't_," Regina says, her voice barely above a breath. "Not that you wanted to know."

"You didn't _what_?" Emma asks. She's pissed off and she doesn't want to talk to this woman right now. Especially when the last thing she saw was a door being closed and Graham and Regina locked behind the other side of it.

"I didn't sleep with Graham." Regina looks up, stares into Emma's eyes. "I couldn't… Not when I feel _this_ way."

Emma's stomach drops to her knees and even though she wants to reach out and grab Regina, pull her into an embrace and thank God that she didn't sleep with Graham, she fights that urge. Regina's eyes are full of sadness, regret, and it is making it so hard for Emma to stay strong. She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, bites down gently with her teeth and then raises her eyebrows slightly. "I'm really happy to hear that," she almost whispers, heartfelt and sincere, before turning away from Regina and walking away.

* * *

><p>"So, you think you have a lead?" Emma asks into her phone as she leans against the wall of the lobby, keeping her eyes constantly sweeping her surroundings.<p>

"Yes," August replies from the other end. "David traced the detergent in the glue used on the letters. We found some fragments, too, of some tiny pieces of red hair. Does anyone in Mills' entourage have red hair?"

Emma scrunches her face and shakes her head. "No, not at all."

"We ran DNA testing on it and it came back with no hits in the database. Whomever is doing this has no record at all." August clears his throat and Emma can tell he's trying to keep his voice down. "This is pointing towards someone that is close to her, Emma. You realize that, right?"

Emma lets out a deep sigh and pushes off the wall with her foot. "Yeah, I know. Look, how's Henry?"

"He's good," August answers and then asks, "How are things with you and Mills?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Emma replies, her answer straight and to the point. "Listen, I gotta go. Give me a call when you find something."

"Will do," August says before Emma disconnects the phone. She slides it into her pocket and then makes her way towards the elevator, punching the penthouse button when she gets inside.

_Red hair… Someone close to her… _

When she gets to the door and lets herself inside, the penthouse is eerily quiet. She looks around, as she closes the door. "Regina?" she asks and is met with silence. Her heart jumps into her throat and her palms instantly start sweating. "Oh, fuck," she hisses as she takes off through the penthouse. She sees Archie coming out of Regina's room and immediately asks, "Where is she?"

"I have no idea," he replies, his voice scared. "I thought you were with her!"

Emma pulls her phone from her pocket and dials Sidney's number. It rings and rings. No Answer. "Shit," she shouts and then dials Killian's number. Same thing - ringing and ringing and no answer.

"Where the hell is she?" Emma asks as she rakes a frantic hand through her blond hair.

Just as she's about to freak out and dial 911, the door to the penthouse opens and in walks Regina, followed by Killian, Sidney and Robin.

"Where were you?" Emma shouts and Regina stops in her tracks. She is not happy at all - and didn't look happy upon entering the room, either. Emma can't put her finger on it, but it's almost as if Regina's been crying and she looks like her entire world is falling apart.

"We took her shopping, _without_ you," Killian says as he gets up close to Emma. "She needed to be away from you. All you do is hold her back."

Emma keeps her eyes on Regina and can tell that the brunette was not okay with the decision to leave without letting Emma know. She takes a couple steps towards her. "Are you okay?" Emma asks, softly, with enough emotion that it almost makes the tears in Regina's eyes cascade out.

Regina nods her head, looks at Killian and then Sidney. "Yes, I'm fine," Regina whispers, her voice shaking. "I needed this. I needed to get away," she finishes with, but it's clear she doesn't believe her own words.

Emma looks at Sidney. He wasn't comfortable with this plan, either! "What the hell?" Emma asks, her hands on her hips. "How am I supposed to protect her if you don't let me know what you're doing?"

Sidney doesn't get a chance to answer before Killian steps in and says, "Look here, love. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that _I _run the show here. Regina does _what_ I want, _when_ I want. And if you don't like that, then you might as well walk."

"Don't. Call. Me. _Love_," Emma says through clenched teeth, each word ending on a firm staccato. "And," she starts, glaring at Killian, "if you don't want Regina to survive what has been happening to her, then fine, get rid of me. But don't you dare act like I don't have her best interests in mind, because you damn well know that _I do._" She turns and takes a step away from him.

"Is that so?" Killian asks. "Is that why you've turned her into a raging dyke?"

And with that, Emma loses it. She feels her fist clench and body turn, barreling her fist into Killian's face before she can even process stopping herself. But let's face it, she wouldn't have stopped herself anyway.

Killian grabs his face while shouting and cursing. Emma can see blood dripping from his hands that are covering his nose and she feels her heart swell in her chest. She shakes her hand out, looks at it, is pleased she didn't break any bones, and then looks up at Sidney. "I'll get you back to the ranch and then I'm done."

"Emma," Regina whispers, her hand instantly covering her mouth.

"I'll find you a decent replacement." And with that, Emma walks towards the door and opens it. "I'm going to do my route." She slams the door behind her and holds back the tears that are threatening to escape. Only when the elevator doors slide closed does she let herself fall apart.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Emma runs a finger absentmindedly around the rim of her tumbler full of whiskey and lets out a deep sigh. "I can't keep doing this, Archie," she says, softly, looking down at her drink. Archie, of course, chased her down after the blow-up in the penthouse and tried to calm her down, tried to make her see that it's not Regina that's being this way.

"I know you can't, Emma. I know." Archie pushes his glasses up on his nose before swiveling on the barstool and looking at Emma. "You know it's okay that you fell in love with her, right?"

Emma lets out a laugh and shakes her head. She wants to protest what he just said. She wants to tell him that he's _nuts_, that he has _no idea_ what he's talking about, that he's _clearly_ blind as a bat and needs to get his eyes checked again. But when she looks over at him, her resolve fades and her shoulders fall, and she knows she's a fucking coward. "It's not okay," she whispers. "I was supposed to stay professional. I was supposed -"

"Supposed to _what_, Emma?" He asks, cutting her off. "I don't blame you for falling for her. I don't blame you at all. I wish you would stop blaming yourself."

"Archie, it's not that easy," Emma replies, turning her attention back to her drink. She takes a sip, lets it burn on the way down before she looks up at the ceiling of the bar. "I fell so hard for her, though," she finally breathes, her voice sounds exasperated and she's obviously holding back tears.

"You can't walk away now," Archie pleads.

"I have to," Emma responds immediately. "I can't do this anymore. Mentally, emotionally, I just can't."

Archie's phone starts vibrating on the bar top just as Emma's does the same thing. She looks at Archie and picks up her phone. "Swan," she says into it, firmly.

"Emma, it's Sidney. You have to get up here right now."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Henry," Sidney replies. "He's fine, but you need to get up here."

Emma disconnects and looks at Archie. "Henry," she says softly. "Let's go." Both Archie and Emma arrive in record time to the penthouse and rush inside. Emma flies through the sitting area into the living room where Sidney is sitting, his head in his hands. "What is going on?"

Sidney looks up at Killian who is on the couch, a Band-Aid over the split on the bridge of his nose and his eye is all black and blue. "You want to tell her or should I?" Killian waves his hand and Sidney rolls his eyes. "Regina was in her room and she got a phone call. She thought it was from Henry. The person on the phone sounded like Henry she said. But it wasn't Henry. It was that whack job, Emma. It was him."

Emma immediately dials August on her phone and has it to her ear waiting for him to answer without saying another word to Sidney.

When August picks up he instantly says, "Emma, Henry is fine. Nothing happened here. I swear to you. We have been fine all night."

"No one got in? Where did the call come from?"

"A blocked number, Em. I promise, no one was in this house." August takes a deep breath. "Henry has been my number one priority. I swear to God."

Emma runs a hand through her hair and sighs. "I know. God, I know. I just, what the hell happened?"

"I don't know," August says. "Have you talked to Regina yet?"

Emma walks over to the glass doors leading to the balcony and opens the door, walks outside, and closes it behind her. "No, not yet."

"Talk to her. I've got Henry."

"Okay, bye," she says before he hangs up and she leans against the balcony railing. She hears a gentle throat clearing, so she turns around and sees Regina sitting on one of the chairs. She is still very shaken up. Emma can tell just by the way she's sitting with her arms crossed and her cardigan pulled over her shoulders. Emma takes a step towards her and then stops, not really sure how to approach the woman right now.

"I'll do whatever you ask of me," Regina finally says after the two have a few more moments of silence. "I'll do whatever."

"Regina," Emma says with a sigh. "No, you won't."

"Yes, Emma. I will." She pulls the cardigan tighter around herself and closes her eyes. "I thought it was _him_, Emma. I thought it was Henry and then he sounded like he was in distress and I just… Emma," Regina pauses and opens her eyes. "I cannot let anything happen to him. I will die if something happens to him."

Emma takes a couple more steps towards Regina and kneels down on the balcony floor in front of the brunette. "Okay," Emma whispers. "But I'm going to want to take you away from _all_ of this." Emma watches Regina's reaction to this and wonders if she really knows what Emma means. "Away from filming, away from the ranch, away from _all of this_."

Regina doesn't hesitate when she answers with, "Whatever you say."

"No questions asked. You won't know where we're going until we get there and you won't ask."

"Okay."

"And you fire Killian."

"Okay," the brunette answers firmly.

"And you give Sidney an extended vacation. And the same with Robin. The only people you take with you are Henry and Mary Margaret and I take Archie, August and David."

Regina nods her head. "Okay," she confirms softly.

"And you _listen_ to me." Emma takes a deep breath. "I mean _really_ listen to me. Because dammit, Regina, if you don't, I swear to God, I don't know how much longer I can go without wanting to kill you myself."

The corner of Regina's mouth pulls slightly upwards before she nods her head. "Okay, Emma," she whispers, her dark eyes never moving from Emma's green. "I'll listen. I promise."

Emma goes to stand up when she feels Regina's hand land on hers. She looks down at the hand and then back up at the brunette. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry… for what Killian said."

"For which part? The part where he said I hold you back or the part where he told me I'm the reason you're a dyke?"

Regina's face twists and she looks down momentarily from Emma's eyes before glancing back up. "All of it. I never have felt like that. Ever."

Emma squeezes Regina's hand in response and smiles. "I know," she replies so softly that Regina almost doesn't hear it. "We're leaving in the morning, so you'd better get ready."

* * *

><p>"So," Regina says from the passenger seat of the rental Jeep Wrangler. "This is a nice area."<p>

"It sure is," Archie echoes from the backseat. His eyes catch the reflection of Emma's in the rearview mirror and he raises his eyebrows. He knows where they are, of course, because being Emma's right hand man has its perks. But he's been sworn to secrecy. The less Regina knows, the better.

"Are you ever going to tell me?" Regina asks, still looking out the window at the mountains flying by. "It's obvious we aren't in Indiana or Illinois anymore. I was on the plane. I know we're in Colorado. Why can't you just tell me?"

"No questions, Regina," Emma says with a smile.

"Well, I'm going to figure it out. I'll see a road sign here shortly."

"Touché," Emma replies. "You know what state we're in. Isn't that enough?"

"I suppose," Regina replies, her voice coated with worry. "How is Henry going to find us, though? Is August bringing him? I feel like that is something I should be allowed to know."

"Henry and Mary Margaret are with August, David and Ruby at the cabin already," Emma answers. She glances at Regina, her eyebrow raised slightly. "Those are definitely questions you're allowed to ask."

"Thank you," Regina responds before crossing her arms and leaning her head back on the headrest. "Am I allowed to say how beautiful it is?"

Emma laughs as she flips on her blinker and turns down an old country road. "Yes, you're always allowed to say that." They start the ascent up to the cabin where she's taking them. The road winds back and forth along the mountainside, sometimes the edge of the road running right alongside the edge of the rock. There are a couple times when Emma notices Regina's hand grip the door handle out of what she isn't sure… Fear? Worry? Probably both?

When they finally reach the driveway to the cabin, Emma takes a deep breath. "Smell that mountain air?" she asks, her head sticking out the window of the Jeep.

Archie chuckles from the backseat. "And here we thought you were a city girl," he comments with a laugh.

Regina smiles and looks over towards Emma. "You do seem to be in your element right now."

Emma can't fight back the grin that's dancing on her lips. "Just wait," she banters back as they pull into a slight clearing in the tall pine and Aspen trees. "We're here." Emma pulls the Jeep into a spot next to another rental Jeep and puts the vehicle into park. The cabin is absolutely beautiful from the outside. It's exactly what you would expect from a mountain home: log exterior and some brick and stone accents, a giant wrap-around porch, beautiful windows all over and it's complete with a beautiful outdoor fire pit and seating area.

"Henry," Regina says softly when she sees her son bounding out the front door followed by Pongo and a small dark brown and buff colored Cocker Spaniel. She quickly opens the door and rushes over towards him, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, Henry, I missed you so much."

He lets out a chuckle that is muffled by Regina's shoulder. "I missed you, too, mom," he says as he tries to pull out of the hug so he can talk. Regina grabs his face and places numerous mom-type kisses all over it - from the forehead to the cheeks before he finally pushes her away with a joke about how he's not going anywhere. He walks over to Emma and slides an arm around her waist. "Hey, Emma."

She smiles at him and squeezes his shoulder with her arm. "Hey, kid. You doin' okay?"

"Heck yeah, this place is _awesome_. August has shown me all around. It's been so frigging cool."

"Well, I'm glad you're settling it," Emma comments before she looks over at August, who has finally made his way outside. "Thank you for getting them here safely."

August nods his head and wraps an arm around her, pulling her into a hug. "You are driving me crazy with worry," he whispers before placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"I know, I know." She sighs and pulls back so she can look at August. "We're safe now."

"Yes, you certainly are."

Emma hears the voice from behind her and August and looks back. "Ingrid," she says softly, her heart instantly filling up. She lets go of August and immediately walks over to hers and August's last foster mom, the only one that ever really went the extra mile for either one of them. The older blonde haired woman wraps her arms around Emma and hugs her tight. It's crazy, really, how much Emma resembles Ingrid.

"Emma, honey, it's so good to have you here."

"Oh, man, I _missed_ this place," she says, her face buried into Ingrid's hair. "And you!"

"I've missed you, too," Ingrid replies as she pulls out of the hug, runs her hand down Emma's arm and grabs onto her hand. "I'm very excited to have a celebrity in our presence," she whispers with a small laugh as she squeezes Emma's hand.

"Oh, God," Emma laughs. She turns around and pulls Ingrid over towards Regina, who is standing with Archie and had also been joined by Mary Margaret. "Regina, Archie, this is Ingrid. She's -"

"She's pretty much our mom," August cuts in as he walks up to the crowd. He puts an arm around Ingrid and pulls her close. "She'll take care of you guys. _Believe_ me."

Ingrid holds her hand out for Regina to shake and instead is floored when all of a sudden, she's being pulled into a hug by the brunette. "Thank you so much for taking us in. For keeping Henry safe. For _everything_."

Ingrid laughs as she hugs Regina back. "You're very welcome," she says before pulling away and looking at the brunette and then the rest of her guests. "I hope you all like steak and potatoes for dinner."

Henry shoots his fist in the air and hisses out a, "Yessss!"

Regina chuckles and says, "Henry, dear," as she tries to calm him down.

"And homemade ice cream?" Emma asks, her grin too much to contain.

"Of course," Ingrid responds, smiling. "As long as David and Ruby promise not to eat it all."

David and Ruby's exasperated gasps from the porch make them all laugh.

* * *

><p>Emma walks along a trail with Regina strolling along next to her. She pushes some branches to a pine tree aside, lets the brunette walk past first and then falls in line behind her. She clears her throat and points to a trail that heads off to the west. "Through there is one of the best views," Emma says, pushing her braided hair over her shoulder. "Or we can go that way and find the clearing where we used to camp. It's up to you."<p>

Regina looks back and forth between the directions and then says, "Best view. You can show me the camping area tomorrow."

"Okay," Emma nods and heads west.

"How are you not getting turned around?"

"Practice." Emma climbs over a tree that has fallen over the trail and holds out her hand to help Regina over. "The cabin has been in Ingrid's family for years. She used to bring us here in the summers. August and me," Emma pauses as Regina climbs over the log and plants her feet firmly on the same side as her. "We were the only two she had for about three years."

"Why didn't she adopt you?" Regina asks, softly, almost afraid of offending Emma with the question.

Emma shrugs and slides out her canteen from the knapsack on her back. "I don't know," she replies, quickly taking a drink and handing it over to Regina. "It was okay, though. I mean, we were happy. A little family for a while." She takes the canteen back from Regina after she takes a few small sips. "It all worked out in the end, regardless, you know?"

Regina smiles as she walks alongside Emma on the trail, reaches up to wipe her brow with the back of her hand, and then looks at the blonde. "You've led quite the life, haven't you?"

A low laugh comes out of Emma's mouth and she nods her head. "I guess you could say that," she responds right before they come to a few large boulders. "Follow my footing," she instructs, as she starts to climb the rocks. When she gets to the top, she turns around and bends down, reaching her hand down to grab onto Regina and help her up the rest of the way.

When Regina gets to the top, she stumbles slightly and is caught by Emma's strong arms. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry," Regina says with a laugh. "_And_ I'm sorry for cursing."

Emma laughs and says, "Don't worry about it." She prods Regina lightly to pick her head up. "Look," she breathes when the brunette finally looks out over the edge of the mountain.

There is a giant canyon that opens up and in front of them is one of the most beautiful views the brunette has ever seen in her entire life. The sun is just beginning to set, lighting up the Colorado sky with reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. She brings a hand up to her mouth, her heartbeat thudding away as loud as possible, and her eyes filling with tears. "Emma," she whispers and then looks over at the blonde, who is staring right at her. "This is…"

"I know," Emma responds, squeezing Regina's hand that is still firmly holding on to hers. "It's breathtaking." She looks away from the brunette and squats down on the rock so she can sit with her feet hanging over the edge. "Sit." She pulls on Regina's hand, "It's awesome. You can feel the warm air rushing up the side of the canyon."

Regina does as she's told and sits down next to Emma, their jean clad thighs pressing together. She looks back out at the view and takes a deep breath. "I could get used to this."

"You'd miss acting," Emma contests softly. "The spotlight, the hustle and bustle."

"I don't know," Regina whispers. "I've never loved it."

"You don't?"

Regina shakes her head, a very sad expression on her face. She keeps her eyes looking at the mountain range in front of them, the sun dipping down further and further.

"That's… The way you _act_, Regina… You _act_ like you love it."

"It's not something I need to be complete," Regina explains. "It's just something I'm good at. Something that happened to me. You know, the first time I auditioned, it was because my mother made me. And every role since then has been so hard fought. And now this one? And the Emmy buzz…" Regina's voice fades and she pushes the strands of hair that have fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. "I never wanted to be pushed this hard. I never wanted this life."

Emma can't help it when she reaches up and places her hand on the side of Regina's face and gently tugs so the brunette will look at her. She runs a finger along Regina's jawline and then she leans forward so carefully that it seems like she fears she's going to break something. She feels Regina leaning in to meet her and when their lips finally touch after what has been the longest and most excruciating dry spell in the history of either one of their lives, Emma's heart skips a beat and her toes curl and her hands instantly start to ache. "What life do you want?" Emma asks against Regina's lips in between kisses.

"I want this… I want _you_."

"I want you, too, Regina." Emma's hand slides down Regina's neck and rest there before she finally says, "I am so sorry for pulling away."

"You'd better be sorry, you idiot," Regina replies, her forehead resting against Emma's. "You'd better be."

"I am," Emma whispers, placing small, intimate kisses on Regina's lips and along her cheeks and jawline. And she is. She really, really is.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Emma leans against a tree and nonchalantly gazes into the back window that looks into the kitchen. She can see Regina and Ingrid moving around, busy cooking dinner. She feels so much better since their hike in the mountains. So much calmer, so much more at ease. She knew she'd never be able to relax into this place if she and Regina were at each other's throats. So knowing that everything was okay now… Well, it's safe to say Emma felt like a million dollars.

"Hey, catch!"

Emma looks up as a basketball comes whizzing towards her and catches it just before it slams her in the face. "Jesus, Rubes!" she shouts while laughing. "What the hell?"

"Come on. Play with Henry and me."

"Yeah, Emma, show us what you got."

Emma dribbles the basketball twice and walks over towards the three point line. "You know this is dangerous, right?"

Henry laughs and says, "Oh, sure. Like when you tried to beat me at chess that one night?"

Emma raises an eyebrow and raises her arms, her form perfect as she shoots the ball. It swishes through the net and bounces off to the side. "You were saying?" Emma asks, an air of cockiness to her voice. She jogs over to the ball, picks it up and bounces it to Henry and he shoots it from the free throw line at the outdoor hoop. It swishes through the hoop causing Henry to throw his hands in the air and shout.

"Woohoo!" he says loudly, running around like a wild man.

"Don't get too cocky," Ruby laughs as she rebounds the ball and throws it at Emma. "You know Emma here never misses a shot, right?"

"Hardly," Emma replies as she dribbles to the three point line spins around and shoots. It also swishes through the hoop and Emma smiles. "I do have a killer shot from behind the line."

"I can still hit a bull's eye before you can," Henry teases as he runs up and steals the ball away from Ruby.

"With what?" August asks from his seated position on one of the homemade wooden chairs around the makeshift basketball court. The buff and brown cocker spaniel, Lady in his lap. He pats the dog on the head, rubs her ears as he raises his beer to his lips and takes a long swig. "Surely not a knife," he starts. "Emma can hit a man in the back -"

"August!" Emma shouts, cutting him off. She shakes her head at him. Henry doesn't need to know all that.

"With an _arrow_," Henry says, walking over towards August. He crosses his arms and taps his toe on the ground. "Should we have a shoot off?" he asks Emma with a grin.

"We probably should," Emma replies, her eyes shining. She nods her head at Henry. "Let's get the bows."

Henry follows Emma over towards a shed on the side of the house, practically giddy with excitement. "This is so _fun_," he says through a laugh. "I thought the ranch was fun; I was _wrong_. This is _way _more fun!"

Emma chuckles as she does the combination on the lock to the shed. There are two bows and two quivers with arrows hanging on the wall. She takes them down, hands a set over to Henry, then turns to look at him. "You know you're going to kick my ass at this, right?"

"Oh, I know," he responds, laughing as he slings the quiver over his shoulder and head. "Are you and mom okay?"

Emma does the same with her quiver as they step out of the shed. "Well, I guess you could say that," she answers, looking down at him as they make their way over towards where August and Ruby have set up a target on a pine tree about fifty paces away.

"Good. You guys fighting was the worst. Not that I love that lovey-dovey stuff," he scoffs, his nose wrinkled.

Emma laughs. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," Henry comments. He glances up at Emma. "You realize she would ask me every day if I had talked to you and if we had talked, what we had talked about and how you were doing and man, it was such a _drag_. Like, come _on_. It was so crazy. She has never been like that before."

"Well," Emma starts, "She's definitely the most stubborn woman I've ever met."

"You mean besides yourself?" August asks from next to Ruby, Lady on one side, Pongo stationed on the other.

"Zip your lips," Emma scoffs. "I am not stubborn."

"Uhhhh," Ruby says with her hand going in the air.

"You realize I have a bow and arrow and could shoot you both, right?"

Henry starts to laugh. "Don't worry, guys, she can't hit you if you get far enough away!"

August and Ruby both descend into a fit of laughter as Emma stands there with her hands at her side. "What the hell?" she asks, trying not to laugh with them all. "What did I do to deserve this?"

* * *

><p>"You beat her, huh?"<p>

Henry slides an arm around Regina's waist as she stands at the counter in the kitchen. She was helping chop vegetables for the salad when Henry and Emma burst in through the door, Henry laughing and Emma hanging her head in shame. He looks over at Emma and smiles. "Yeah, but I think she let me win."

"No way, kid; that was all you." Emma puts her hands in the air in mock defeat. "I swear."

"She's not lying," Ingrid says as she stirs the spaghetti sauce on the stove. "She was never a good shot with the bow and arrow. She was more of a knife and gun girl."

"See?" Emma prods with a laugh. "Knives and guns. Total mountain man material."

"You always could hit the wild game with that old rifle. That's for sure." Ingrid smiles at Emma as she turns around and slides a loaf of bread towards Emma with a large bread knife. "Prepare this," she says softly.

Emma does as she's told, slicing the loaf of Italian bread lengthways and then spreading a garlic butter concoction that Ingrid makes all over the soft bread. "I haven't hunted in years," she finally comments, walking a cookie sheet with the halves of bread over towards the oven. "350?" she asks.

"Yes," Ingrid answers, with a smile, and gently lays her hand on Emma's shoulder before the younger blonde bends down and slides the bread into the oven. "It's been awhile for me, too. But my aim is still good."

"So is Emma's," Henry says from his now seated position on one of the stools by the center island in the kitchen. "I used to watch her shoot targets at the ranch with Archie."

"Henry," Regina chides. "I hope you were a safe distance away."

"Geesh, mom, _yeah_. I'm not a child, ya know," he responds with a wry smile.

Regina points the end of her knife jokingly at him and raises an eyebrow. "Watch it, mister. I can still ground you, regardless of where we're calling home."

Ingrid's eyes catch Emma's and the two exchange glances.

_Home_.

Emma's heart is in her chest when she looks at Regina and their eyes lock. "Yeah, kid, don't sass your mother," she says playfully with a gentle elbow nudge to Henry's arm. He looks lovingly up at her and then back at his mom before Emma finally says, "Why don't you go clean up for dinner?"

"Oh, I know what that means. Time for some adult time," he replies, sliding off the stool. He strides out of the kitchen, his hair bouncing with him, when the three women hear him start laughing and then August shout and chase after him.

Emma shakes her head and smiles. "It's kinda weird being all together like this again."

"It reminds me when we were a big foster family," Ingrid responds, her voice so sincere and sweet. "Before the two young boys, Jake and Tyler were adopted and the other pair, Joseph and Luke moved to another home. Remember how crazy that all was? We were a full house."

Emma scoots the stool out where Henry was sitting and brings a knee up to kneel onto the soft leather surface. She glances at Regina and then at Ingrid. "It was more fun when it was just you, me and August."

"Well, of course," Ingrid says with a laugh. "Especially when we were up here and you two had your own rooms and everything."

Regina gently clears her throat and says, "It sounds like you all had a great relationship," before she finishes scooping the vegetables into the salad.

Emma lets out a laugh and responds with, "Not really. I hated Ingrid to begin with. I mean, who likes their foster mom?"

"Yeah, she was a real spit-fire."

"I almost ran away and August talked me out of it."

Regina smiles, her wine glass now in hand, and raises an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me this stubborn streak has been present for a while now?"

"Oh, yes, for as long as I've known her," Ingrid confirms, a smile across her face. "Thank goodness she finally came around."

Emma can feel the heat in her cheeks as she looks down at the countertop. "Yeah, well, I'm glad I did, too," she says in almost a whisper. She feels Ingrid walk up beside her and wrap a strong arm around her waist and then kiss her on the cheek.

"Mule."

"Nag," Emma replies, softly, her voice almost cracking with emotion. She glances up at Regina and is definitely surprised by the look of love displayed on the woman's face and the slight shine in her eyes.

* * *

><p>Dinner at Ingrid's hasn't been this packed with people for a very long time. And the meal is absolutely delicious. The spaghetti is fabulous, the garlic bread is spectacular and, "Regina, this salad is perfect," August says with a smile, his mouth full of lettuce from his third helping.<p>

The brunette smiles at him from across the long, reclaimed barn wood table in the dining room. "All I did was cut it up," she replies, feeling Emma's hand slide onto her thigh and squeeze lightly.

"Yeah, but the dressing. That was really great," Ruby says around a mouthful of bread.

Mary Margaret lets out a laugh at Ruby's lack of couth. "It really is the best dressing, Regina," she says from the opposite side of the table. She's seated next to David and when she looks at Emma and then Regina, her smile is almost too much to handle.

Emma leans into Regina and whispers, "I think Mary Margaret found her Prince Charming finally."

"I see that," Regina says quietly, her head turned towards the blonde. "It's about time."

"So, how long have you had this place?" Archie asks Ingrid. He pushes his glasses up on his nose with his forefinger and smiles. "Looking to sell? I could get used to it out here."

Ingrid smiles as she leans back in her chair at the head of the table. "This house has been in my family for years. It was my grandfather's and then my parents' and then mine. And while I'm not looking to sell, you can always move in, Archie. I do love the company."

Archie's cheeks blush a deep red and the table all laughs at his apparent embarrassment. "Well, I appreciate the offer," he replies with a shy grin.

"Henry, honey?" Regina asks softly with a smile. "Have you breathed at all during this meal?" She runs a hand over his hair and he beams.

He wipes his mouth with his napkin and then takes a long drink of the Coca-Cola that Regina allowed him to drink. "I've been conserving my energy by taking as little breaths as possible," he finally answers.

Ingrid laughs as she goes to stand up to gather the plates. "Whoa, there, little lady. Let the men clean up," August chides, holding his hand out. "And then it's time for fire. And beer."

Emma laughs when Regina looks over at her. "It's a tradition."

"Beer around the fire?"

"Yes," Emma replies. "I'm sorry." She feels slightly bad for the amount of craziness that she has thrust Regina into in the last few hours. She's used to August and his nutty comebacks and alcoholic tendencies. But no one else really is. Not even Ruby or David, who spend as much time with August as Emma does these days.

The brunette's face softens and she slides her hand over Emma's. "Don't be sorry. I am loving every second."

* * *

><p>"Here are the Coors Lights," Ingrid says as she passes along a string of beers. "And a PBR for me." Everyone looks at her and she just smiles. "What? I like it." She sets the beer can down next to her seat and then hands Henry a cup of hot cocoa complete with whip cream and cinnamon. "And hot cocoa for Henry."<p>

"Is this cinnamon?" he asks.

"It sure is," she answers, whisking back into the house.

"Mom, she does cinnamon, too," he says with a smile. "Just like you."

Emma nudges Regina who is sitting next to her on the outdoor blanket on the ground, leaning against the giant log that surrounds the pit. Lady is sitting next to her, the dog's face propped on Regina's lap. "You do cinnamon?"

"Always have." Regina runs her hand over the dog's head and down her back. The cocker spaniel breathes out and Regina chuckles at the adorableness.

"So do I," Emma says quietly. She smiles when Regina looks over at her.

"Emma, honey, it's time."

Emma looks up at Ingrid as she's carrying out an old, ornate chess board, the pieces still standing on it. "Oh, man," she whispers. "And it begins." She gets to her knees and scoots over towards where Ingrid sets the chess board on a small table. She also kneels down next to it, a grin on her face.

"This _again_?" August whines from his Adirondack chair.

"Always," Ingrid replies. She takes a long drink of her now opened PBR. She slaps Emma's hand as she tries to pick the white side of the chess board. "Hey, that's my side! You know that. You're the black side."

Emma chuckles and rubs her hand. "Geesh, are you sure?"

"Yes! My last move I took your rook with my bishop right there," Ingrid argues, pointing.

"Goodness," Mary Margaret says as she leans forward, seeing the dust on the chessboard. "How long has this been going on?"

Emma locks her eyes onto Ingrid's and then back onto the board. "Three years."

"She almost beat me the first year," Ingrid comments softly.

Emma hears Henry clear his throat from behind her and she smiles. "See something?"

"Knight to King 4."

Emma lets out a puff of air and shakes her head. "City kid," she scoffs with a smile, until both blondes lean forward to get a closer look at the board. "Well, _shit_." And with a fluid move, Emma moves the knight and topples Ingrid's king.

Ingrid's eyes go wide and Henry smiles at Emma. "Henry, honey, why don't you come sit by me?" Ingrid asks and everyone starts laughing, including Emma.

"He _did _beat me at chess," Emma calmly remembers out loud. She looks back at Regina who looks like she's about ready to pass out. She reaches back and lays a hand on her knee. "You okay?"

"Yeah, but if you all don't mind, I think I'm going to head to bed."

Emma stands up abruptly, holding her hand out for Regina to grab onto it. Lady stirs from her slumber and gets to her feet, wagging her butt and looking up at Regina. "Looks like you have a new best friend."

Regina slips her hand into Emma's and looks back at the rest of the company. "Good night, everyone," she says with a wave as Emma starts to walk her towards the house, Lady hot on their trail.

* * *

><p>Emma lays down on the bed next to Regina, Lady curled up next to her, and smiles. "You comfortable?" she asks before she reaches over and brushes a strand of hair away from the brunette's face.<p>

"Yes, I am, actually." Regina lets out a deep breath and closes her eyes. "I'm so happy here."

"Good," Emma whispers as she leans in and places a kiss on Regina's temple. "I'm glad."

"Kiss me on the lips, Miss Swan," Regina demands, her voice low and thick with sleep. "Please?"

Emma chuckles as she leans down and places her lips on Regina's. She kisses her deeply before she lets go and smiles. "That better?"

"Yes."

"I'll be in here shortly. Gotta start out separately, okay?" Emma explains as she starts to get up from the bed.

Regina sighs and then closes her eyes. "I feel like a high-schooler again."

"Right?"

"You sneaking into my bedroom, not wanting to wake anyone up, hoping that we won't get caught. It's all very exciting."

Emma walks over towards the door and reaches out for the handle. "As long as you're quiet, I'm sure we won't get caught." She laughs when Regina's head flies up from the pillow and a gasp shoots from her throat. "Sleep tight, Miss Mills."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thank you all so much for all the reviews and follows. You have all been so wonderful. I am so thrilled that you all are enjoying this ride. :)**

**Chapter 12**

Emma wakes up the next morning with an arm draped across her torso, a dog laying in between her legs, and the smell of coffee seeping in underneath the door. She moves slightly to check the clock on the bedside table and feels the arm tighten around her, which causes her to laugh softly and kiss the top of Regina's head.

"No, not yet," Regina murmurs against Emma's chest. "I'm not ready to get up."

"You must have been super tired" Emma whispers, running her fingers along the brunette's bare arm.

"Why's that?"

"Because when I came to bed you were so out you didn't even move." Emma smiles, "And you snored a little bit, too."

Regina picks her head up from Emma's chest and raises an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon, Miss Swan. I certainly do not snore."

"Um, actually," Emma starts.

"Sorry, no. I do not. You're mistaken," Regina snaps as she lays her head back down and goes back to squeezing Emma against her body.

"Oh, come on, Regina," Emma protests. "You were totally snoring last night. You even woke the dog at one point." Emma motions towards Lady and she picks her head up and looks back at the women, clearly annoyed at the volume of their conversation.

"That, my dear, is a fabrication," Regina replies, a laugh vibrating her body. She lifts her head and looks at Emma. "Why don't you kiss me and stop this arguing?"

Emma laughs as she leans in. "Oh, yeah? You want me to stop insisting that you snore?"

"Yes," Regina says again, a smile playing on her lips. "Kiss me, Emma, please?" Her words and breath brush against Emma's lips and just as Emma is about to do as Regina has asked there's a knock on the door. They scramble briefly, the dog jumps and gets off the bed, and Regina clears her throat while Emma tries to stifle her laughter. "Yes?"

"Breakfast is almost ready," August says through the door. He waits a beat before he finishes with. "Did you hear that Emma?"

Emma lets out a laugh and Regina falls back into the pillow, throwing her arm over her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you, you ass. We'll be right down."

"I'm telling Ingrid on you," he teases. "You'd better hurry!"

"You'd better not!" Emma shouts a second before she feels Regina snake an arm around her neck and pull her down into a very passionate kiss. Her lips part and welcome the brunette's tongue enthusiastically. With one fluid movement, Emma repositions herself so she's straddling one of Regina's legs and pressing the brunette's arms above her head, kissing her way down, down, down, over the white tank top that she let Regina borrow. "We can't do this now," Emma pants against Regina's neck as she slips a hand underneath the silky panties the brunette is wearing. She slides a finger through the wetness she finds and teases, teases, teases, before gently slipping two fingers inside. "We really need to get up."

"Emma, for Christ's sake, just stop talking," Regina rasps into Emma's ear, a moan following when Emma pulls her fingers out and slides them back in with ease.

"You're _so _demanding," Emma says, making sure that her thumb is now hitting Regina's clit on each pass. "So, so, sooooo," she breathes against the brunette's lips, "_demanding…_" She can feel Regina tightening around her fingers as she starts to move her thumb in tight circles, feels nails dig into her back and as she pulls her face away to look at Regina, there are tears welling in the corners of the brunette's eyes. "Oh, my God," Emma whispers. "Regina, are you okay?"

"Emma, dear, I'm fine, but don't you _dare _stop," she threatens through clenched teeth.

Emma watches Regina's as her head leans back, her neck arches, her breasts thrust forward in the white tank, and a low, low, low moan comes out of her mouth as her orgasm hits. She chuckles a little when Regina grabs a pillow and with her free hand and covers her mouth with it, muffling the sounds. When Regina's body goes limp and she moves the pillow from her face, Emma leans down and kisses her. "Good morning," she whispers through the kiss. As she has her lips still on Regina's, she slowly slides her fingers from their spot and receives Regina's moan into her mouth.

"God," Regina breathes. "That was…"

"Yes?"

"Incredible," she finishes, pulling Emma down for another kiss.

"I have bad news," Emma says softly.

Regina's face falls. "What?"

"We have to get up now." Emma smiles and places three soft kisses on Regina's lips. She looks down and notices that Regina is obviously having a moment. "What's wrong?" she asks immediately. "Are you okay?"

A smile comes to the brunette's lips before she runs two fingers along the side of Emma's face, along her jawline, down her neck. "I just," she starts, takes a breath, and finishes with, "I really just… I think…"

Emma lets a small laugh escape as she sits back on the bed, pulls her hair over her shoulder, and tilts her head at Regina. "I've never seen you so tongue tied," she teases, a smile on her lips.

Regina sits up and runs her fingers through her hair, wipes at her eyes, tries her hardest to gather herself together. "You know," she starts and then pauses. She looks up at Emma. "My husband was murdered… years ago."

Emma nods her head and wants to reach for Regina's hand, but decides to let the brunette speak, uninterrupted.

"And it's not really… It's not something that I ever thought I'd be able to get past… to let go of the hurt and the pain and the heartache." Regina licks her lips, presses them together, and then smiles. "But you…" She draws a deep breath into her lungs and lets it out slowly before saying, "I've fallen in love with you, Emma." The blonde goes to take a breath to say something and Regina immediately follows up with, "Please, don't say anything right now. I don't want you to say it back just because I said it. It's not about that… It's that for years I never thought I could love again and, honestly, never thought I wanted to… And then you came along and changed _everything_."

Emma can feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She does love this woman, and she wants to say it back so badly. "Regina…"

"Emma, Regina, come on!" comes August's voice from the other side of the door while knocking on it feverishly.

Regina smiles, tilts her head and scoots closer to Emma before she leans in and places her forehead on Emma's. "Go downstairs. I'll be right there."

Emma moves both hands and pushes them into Regina's hair before she kisses her so deeply that it practically takes her own breath away. "Hurry."

"I will," Regina says, placing one more quick kiss on Emma's lips before she pushes the blonde out of the bed.

* * *

><p>Emma rolls over onto her stomach and props herself up on the large picnic blanket. The entire clan has hiked their asses to the camping spot Ingrid, Emma and August have frequented numerous times and it's just as beautiful as it has always been. There's a lake, a dock, a small boat, and plenty of open space to run around. Henry is playing with Lady and Pongo who are smelling and sniffing as much as possible. David is fishing off the dock with Mary Margaret and August is napping against the stump of a tree. Ingrid, Archie, and Ruby are playing cards and honestly, it's all so picture perfect and serene that Emma can't believe it's happening.<p>

Regina clears her throat as she sits down next to Emma and stretches her legs out, crossing them at the ankles. "This is so gorgeous."

"Puts the Midwest to shame, doesn't it?"

Henry comes trotting up to them and lays down, panting like one of the dogs. "This is… so…" He takes a few more breaths, "much… fun!"

Regina laughs and pushes his bangs away from his sweaty forehead. "You are really enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yeah, mom, this is so awesome."

Emma watches the two interact, their smiles and gentle, easygoing banter. She listens as he launches into a story about how August showed him Elk prints in the dirt and that "August even said that he's seen bears up here before!" and she can't help but chuckle at how adorable he is.

"Well, I hope you don't go looking for those bears," Regina reminds him. "I don't think that's something our savior here can save you from."

Emma beams. "Savior, huh?"

"Well, you have saved mom a whole bunch of times, right?" Henry asks, a lopsided grin on his face.

Regina shrugs a shoulder and licks her lips. "Just a few times," she comments softly.

"More than a few," Emma replies, her eyebrow raised to her hairline. "If only you weren't so stubborn."

"Me? Stubborn?!"

"Yeah, mom, you." Henry runs both hands through his hair making it stand straight up. "You're like, crazy stubborn."

"I cannot believe you have my son on your side," Regina huffs.

Emma holds up a hand and Henry high fives it. "Thanks, kid." They exchange smiles and Regina just rolls her eyes, fights back a grin, and then relents. "There ya go," Emma laughs, pushing gently on the brunette's leg.

"Emma, can you teach me how to drive the boat?"

She looks over at Regina, raising her eyebrows to ask permission and Regina nods her head. "Sure thing, kid! Let's go!"

The two get up from the blanket and take off towards the dock, Regina shouting, "BE CAREFUL, YOU TWO!" after them.

Emma climbs into the boat first, helping Henry in after she gets herself stabilized. "Whoa, easy there, Henry," she corrects softly when he almost slips after climbing in. "Now, you sit there and I'll teach you how to start the motor, okay?" He nods his head, his eyes as big as saucers, as Emma dictates to him all the different steps to start the motor on the old wooden boat. "You want to give a try?" she asks and he almost flips the boat with his enthusiasm. Emma laughs and gets them both situated before she lets him pull the cord two or three times, finally helping him with the last pulls to get the motor running.

Henry's smile is almost too much to handle as he turns towards her and shouts over the sound, "CAN I DRIVE IT?"

Emma laughs and nods her head, instructing him how to steer the boat with the handle that attaches to the rudder. She leans back as he gets the hang of it, lets him tool around the lake while they wave to their crew on the shore. They're out in the middle of the lake when all of a sudden the motor stalls.

"What happened?" Henry asks, immediately afraid that he did something wrong.

Emma chuckles as she tells him to switch sides with her. "You didn't do anything wrong, kid. This happens. This boat is old. I'll fix it." She reaches around to the control panel and fiddles quickly with a few spots where she knows there are issues. She can feel something weird attached to one spot on the motor, so she moves a little to check it out closer. She stands up slightly and bends over, looking into the area right behind where the gas goes.

She feels her stomach fall into her ass.

She knows what that is.

She _knows_.

_Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh SHIT!_

"Henry," she says calmly.

"What? What'd I do?"

"Nothing at all, kid. But we're gonna play a game. Because… well, we ran out of gas," she improvises. "So, I want you to jump out of this boat right now and swim towards the shore. As fast as you can."

"Really? Won't mom get mad that I got all wet?"

"Don't worry," Emma replies, her gaze not wavering. "Go, now."

"I don't know…"

"Henry. Go. Now!" Emma turns her head and looks at him, her eyes are pleading even though she's trying so hard to keep her face from showing the fear that is in her heart.

He listens this time, diving from the boat into the water. He emerges and starts swimming smoothly towards the dock. When he's far enough away, Emma does the same and bails from the boat, swimming as fast as she can towards the dock.

"What happened?" Regina asks as she runs up to the dock, pushing past David and Mary Margaret, and reaches down to help Henry up. "Are you okay?"

Emma is close behind now and shouts from the water. "Get back!"

"What the hell is going on?!" August yells as he runs up and grabs Regina and Henry and tries to get David and Mary Margaret to get away from the dock. "Emma? What's wrong?!"

"There's a fucking _bomb_!"

Just as she finishes her words, the boat explodes.

The blast from the explosion throws everyone on the dock to the wooden surface. Emma comes up from underwater and looks back to see the flames and smoke and the remnants of the boat. She grabs the rung on the ladder and feels herself being pulled up by both arms, Archie on one side and August on the other.

"Jesus Christ, Emma, are you okay?" August asks, grabbing her face and trying to get her to look at him. "Emma? Honey? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," she says softly. "That son of a bitch found us. How did he find us?" she asks, her eyes welling with tears. "How? I was so careful. No one knew. No one."

"I know," Archie answers, his voice calm.

"Emma," Regina screeches as she rushes over towards her, Henry in tow. "Are you okay? Oh, my God, are you okay? Please be okay." She practically pushes August out of the way and gets down in Emma's face. "Can you hear me?" she asks, now cradling Emma's face in her hands.

"I'm so sorry, Regina," Emma whispers, tears falling from her eyes. "I am so sorry. I almost… fuck… What if that had gone off while Henry -"

"Stop!" Regina almost shouts, her own tears welling up and spilling from her eyes. "Stop it, right this instant. Stop." She runs her fingers over Emma's cheeks and then pulls her into a hug.

Emma puts an arm out and grabs onto Henry and pulls him into the hug with them. "Thank you for saving me, Em," he says so quietly she almost doesn't hear him. And that's when she knows she's going to do whatever it takes to protect the both of them.

* * *

><p>Emma walks up to the front porch where Archie is standing by August and David. "The batteries on the cars are all dead," she explains, wiping her hands on the old towel she found in the shed. She finished sweeping the grounds, found no trace of any tampering around the house - thank God. "What the fuck is going on? I thought I told you all not to mention this to anyone? How did he find us?"<p>

"Emma, I didn't say a word to anyone. You _know_ I didn't," Archie explains, frantically wringing his hands. "I would never…"

Emma's face softens when she sees Archie's pained expression. "I know. God, I know. I'm sorry." She pushes her hands through her hair and sighs. "I just don't get it."

"Maybe someone else told?" August says, his arms crossed.

"Like who?"

Archie's face falls and he looks like he's seen a ghost. "Mary Margaret."

"What about Mary Margaret?" Emma asks through clenched teeth.

"She can never keep a secret," Archie explains. "She's the one that leaked the information about the ranch being in Indiana." He reaches for Emma's arm as she turns to go find the pixie haired woman. "Wait, Emma! You can't just _throttle_ her. What are you going to do?"

"Yeah, Emma, Mary Margaret would never hurt someone _intentionally_."

"Oh, what the fuck do you know? You've known her for 24 hours," Emma shouts at David and his face tightens up and she instantly feels bad. "Shit, I'm sorry. I just, what was she _thinking_?" And just as those words leave her mouth, the door to the house opens and out walks Mary Margaret, face streaked by tears, followed by Regina, face stoic as ever, and Ingrid, who looks like she never planned for the weekend to end up like this.

"Mary Margaret has something she'd like to confess," Regina says softly, folding her arms across her chest.

The pixie haired woman immediately starts crying again, her big eyes shedding tears like it's their job. "I am so _sorry_. I let it slip to Leroy -"

"The house keeper?" Emma asks. "Why were you telling him _anything_?"

"I was telling him that he'd have to make sure the house was watched while we were gone and I never thought he'd say _anything_, but I called him when we got back here and," she takes a deep breath and tries her hardest to continue through the tears, "he said he was confronted by Killian and… and… Killian had a _gun… _and was forceful -"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Emma cuts Mary Margaret off. "It's been Killian the whole time?"

"I don't know!" Mary Margaret almost shouts through her tears. "But who else would have done something like this?"

"Regina," Emma says, looking at the brunette. "We can't stay here. We have to leave."

"I know," Regina says softly. "I already told Henry that we're leaving."

"What do we do?" Mary Margaret asks, wiping at her tears, falling into David's shoulder as he wraps his arm around her.

"Well, we tape your fucking mouth shut, for one," Emma comments, her voice laced with irritation.

"Emma," Ingrid softly comments, laying a hand on the younger blonde's arm. "She didn't mean for this to happen."

"I didn't," Mary Margaret says though more tears. "I never meant for this to happen. I never would have… Oh, God, Henry and I love him, and I would have never…" She collapses again into David, the tears flowing freely again.

Emma glances at August who shrugs and then she takes a deep breath. "We can't leave right now. The cars are dead and it'll be dark soon. We'll wait for first light before leaving. I'll figure out the ride situation. We'll hunker down in the cabin for now." She walks away from the group and over to the opposite end of the porch. Footsteps follow her and she hopes it's not Mary Margaret - she does not want to talk to that woman right now. A hand falls onto the small of her back and if she wasn't trying so hard to hold it together, she'd probably fall apart again, because she _knows_ that touch now. She glances over her shoulder at Regina and looks into those dark eyes that have captured her heart and soul. "So…"

"We'll be okay," Regina calmly says. "We'll be okay."

"I'm the one that's supposed to be telling you that," Emma comments. She leans forward and props her elbows on the railing of the porch, looks out towards the mountain range and takes a deep breath.

"It just means you're doing your job."

"Does it?"

"Yes," Regina answers. "I'm alive. Henry's alive." She rubs her hand over Emma's back. "Maybe I can take care of you a little bit now."

Emma lets out a puff of air and then lowers her head. "I cannot fucking believe that asshole is involved in this."

A small laugh leaves Regina's mouth and she mimics Emma's position against the railing. "Are you really surprised?"

Emma looks over at Regina, her profile is beautiful against the backdrop of the Aspen trees and honestly, if this wasn't such a shitty conversation, it'd be a perfect moment. "What do you mean?"

"He never cared about me. Just about my fame," Regina responds after waiting a few moments, taking a few breaths. "I should have fired him years ago. After that whole falling out with my sister and everything that happened there."

"What _did _happen there?"

"Jealousy," Regina answers simply. "Plain, old fashioned jealousy. And Killian… He just didn't get it."

Emma breathes deep and tears her gaze away from the brunette. "I'm not going to let him hurt you, Regina," she says before standing upright and turning towards her. "I promise you that."

Regina reaches over and wraps an arm around Emma's thigh and pulls her closer so their bodies are pressed together. "I know. I trust you."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Emma leans back in the leather arm chair in the living room. The house in completely dark, no noise, no anything. August and David are both at the back of the house standing guard with shotguns, courtesy of Ingrid, who, along with Archie, is sitting across the room from Emma, shotgun laid across her lap, Pongo by Archie's side.

Regina is on the couch, Henry fast asleep, tucked under one of her arms, Mary Margaret leaning against her other side, and Lady laying half on Regina's lap and half on Henry.

Ruby is pacing the kitchen, quiet as a mouse, ears alert, trying her hardest to not let being locked in make her crazy.

Everyone is trying to stay calm, to not cause more drama. And overall it's working. _Thank God_.

Emma has gone over and over the events that have happened and almost every scare has been at the hands of Killian. But it seems too easy. Too simple. And even though Emma knows he threatened Leroy, it still seems like it's too _simple_.

But who else would want to do this to Regina? And especially now that she fired him? It makes perfect sense.

But it's still too simple.

Emma glances over at Regina, her eyes closed, Lady's head resting on her knee, and it makes her stomach hurt again to realize what a close call the boat incident was. Henry could have… God, they both could have… _died…_ And then what? That would have killed Regina without actually _killing _her. And maybe that's what the asshole wanted to do.

Maybe he wants to hurt Regina so badly that she never recovers.

Regina's eyes slide open and she looks at Emma from her position on the couch. Emma forces a smile; it's small, but it's there.

And then Lady picks her head up, ears perked and Emma immediately springs into action, jumping from the chair and picking up her gun from the table beside the chair. She looks over at Ingrid, who flips her shotgun into her hands and stands in one fluid motion. Emma's two fingers go up to her eyes, signals towards the left and then looks over her shoulder at Ruby, who is now standing at attention in the kitchen.

Lady's lips curl slightly, a low growl coming from her muzzle. Emma notices this and takes two steps towards the hallway that leads to the back of the house. She slides along the wall, quietly making her way towards the dining room and the back rooms when she hears a floorboard creak. She stops, safety off of her gun now, and takes two more steps.

"Emma?" comes a hushed whisper.

"August, _Christ_, what the hell are you doing?" Emma hisses.

"He's on the west side of the house," August hisses back.

"Are you sure?" After this question, August lowers his shotgun and looks at her. "I'm just checking, August."

He looks over her shoulder and then whisper, "You need to go. Now. He had just rounded the trees. I'll watch Regina."

"August," Emma starts.

"Emma, go, now!"

Emma turns on her boot heels and runs towards the west side of the house. Thankfully, she knows the house a lot better than the assailant. The window that lines the wall on the west side opens and swings out in the middle and Emma dives skillfully through it. She clears the porch and after an expert roll into the grass she kneels in place, gun at the ready and listens. Her eyes are searching wildly, the moonlight just enough to brighten the darkness so she can see a little bit.

She continues to listen. Practically holding her own breath so she can hear better, but still she hears nothing.

Until _SNAP_, a branch cracks towards the west. She pops to her feet and takes off towards the noise, running through the forest with little effort, ducking under branches and sliding around a tree before stopping again to listen. She can hear breathing. She can hear it. She can almost _feel _it.

She closes her eyes, sees the forest in her mind, the trees, the way the branches hang, the clearing to the left that she has walked through a hundred times, the tree she used to climb with August straight ahead. All of it.

The wind blows and that's when the assailant makes a mistake. The sound of someone crouching down in the leaves about 50 feet away to the right comes through the night as clear as day. She turns and squeezes the trigger of her gun, shooting towards the direction of the sound. She hears the bullet make contact with a tree and then hears the person take off, so she shoots two more times. She hears the final bullet hit her mark. Her eyes fly open and she pops up, running in the direction of the sounds.

Emma turns around a tree and hits the dirt road that leads to Ingrid's. She can see a person fleeing, limping slightly, and climbing into a vehicle. Then the sound of tires peeling out as tail lights start to fade out in the distance.

She runs and runs, slides into the road on the gravel and aims, empties the cartridge, shoots out a tail light, and that's when the moonlight illuminates the maroon Ford Bronco just enough for her to see it clearly.

_Shit_.

* * *

><p>Emma looks up when David and August both walk into the still kitchen. David's face looks like he's seen a ghost and August… Well, he's not looking so hot, either. "So?" she says, Regina's hand on her back as she leans forward over the center island countertop.<p>

"Em," David starts. He crosses his arms and takes a deep breath. "My contact on the Chicago police force said they caught him already. They apprehended him last night," he explains, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair.

"Who was it? How is that possible?" Emma asks, standing upright, looking almost frantically from August to David and back to August.

"Well, it wasn't Killian," August sighs. "Apparently it was the same guy that tried to attack Regina that night at the Hispanic Cultural Event."

"Wait," Emma says waving a hand frantically. "What are you saying?"

"The letters were all sent from that man," David says carefully. "Forensics from the glue resin _and_ the paper all lead back to _that _man. Which means -"

"Which means that whomever was here tonight is someone completely different," Regina finishes as she slides her hand down Emma's arm and interlocks her fingers with the blonde's.

"Exactly," David affirms.

"Which, of course, makes no fucking sense," August chimes in, palms pressed against the countertop, his voice strained with stress.

Regina takes a deep breath and looks at Emma. "What do we do?" she asks.

"What do you want to do?"

"I know you aren't going to like hearing this, but I am sick of hiding," Regina explains.

"You know," Archie starts from his spot behind the four of them. "You have one more appearance," he shrugs his shoulders. "We could go. Put on a brave face…?"

Regina looks at Archie and then at Emma. "That's an idea."

"Regina, no," Emma says softly. "What if -"

"You'll protect me, won't you?" The brunette asks, her eyes not straying from Emma's.

"But -"

"No, Emma, you'll _protect _me, _won't you_?"

Emma feels her heart clench in her chest. "Of course," she replies, barely above a whisper. "Always."

"That settles it then," Ingrid says from her spot next to Archie. "We'll leave for the airport in the morning. You all need to get some rest. There's no way that guy's coming back after Emma clipped him."

August lets out a laugh. "I can't believe you nailed him in the dark."

Emma feels a small smile tugging at her lips as her cheeks fill with red. "Well, I have always been a sure shot."

* * *

><p>"Emma?"<p>

The blonde turns her head from her seat on the couch, the darkness surrounding her. "Henry, kid, what are you doing up?"

The boy takes a couple steps and then sits carefully next to her on the couch, his hair sticking up in all directions and his Star Wars t-shirt wrinkled from bed. "I couldn't sleep."

"Is your mom asleep?"

"Yeah," he answers quietly. He looks up at her, his eyes big. "Are you scared, Emma?"

She tries to force herself to sound brave and tough, but the almost incomprehensible smile and the way her eyes start to fill slightly with tears are almost enough to give her away. "No, I'm not scared," she lies, thankful for the cover of night to help solidify her lie. She watches Henry take a breath, the way his bottom lip trembles and she knows that he most definitely is scared. "You don't have to be scared."

"I am, though," he whispers.

"Oh, man," Emma breathes as she puts an arm around Henry's shoulders. "You have nothing to worry about, kid. I promise you that."

"But the boat…"

Emma feels her heartbeat skip and she squeezes him closer to her. "I know, honey. I know. And I'm sorry about that."

"That was meant for my mom, wasn't it?"

"I don't know," Emma answers honestly. "I just know that we are handling it." They sit in silence as Henry accepts that answer for now. Emma doesn't really know what else to say. The boat was… it was too much and too close and it scared her just as much as it scared him. And this guy that is after Regina is good. Too good. Emma's hunted and killed people before, but this guy….

"I don't understand… good people and bad people. I wish I could understand it," Henry explains.

Emma wants to say that she feels the exact same way, but instead she says, "You obviously like Star Wars, right?"

He lets out a breath through his nose and looks up at her. "Yeah, why?"

"Well," Emma starts, "obviously there is always a struggle between being good and being evil. It's in all of us. You know, Luke, he fought with himself to stay good, to stay true to the Force and to himself."

"And Darth Vader turned bad because of a _girl_," Henry adds, a chuckle following his words.

Emma smiles and says, "It's never that easy, kid." They sit together in silence for a while before Emma hears Henry open his mouth as if he's going to say something and then close it again. "What?"

"So, good people can turn into bad people."

"Exactly." Emma leans her head back on the couch and listens to Henry's breathing as he lets that thought roll over and over in his mind.

"Emma?" His voice breaks the silence again.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want her to die," Henry whispers. "I love her so much."

Emma squeezes Henry closer to her and leans her head against his. "I won't let her die."

"Because you love her, too?"

Emma smiles against Henry's hair. "Yeah, kid, because I love her, too."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Emma pushes a hand through her hair and then pulls it back into a half-hearted ponytail; it's messy and bumpy, but she doesn't really care. She leans against the kitchen screen door of the pool house, watching as Mary Margaret and Henry practice archery on the far side of the pool. They all arrived home yesterday afternoon and after a security sweep was done on the house by herself, August, David and Ruby, Emma deemed it safe to enter. And now? Life seems to be slightly back to normal, which is what everyone kind of needed, she guesses. Henry looks over at her after he's shot a couple of arrows, waves at her and Emma can't help but chuckle and wave back. He looks taller, which seems weird to her, since they've only been gone from the ranch for a few days, but still...

Even though everyone else seems to be settling in (including her friends, August decided he was staying the night for as long as it takes; David, too; and well, Ruby's even taking up residence in the mansion) she hasn't quite latched on to that stress-free feeling yet. She hates admitting it, but she's insanely on edge right now, even after her cup of coffee she's currently sipping. Archie keeps telling her it'll be fine, but for some reason, she just knows that something bad is going to happen. She can feel it in her gut.

And tonight… _Shit…_

The Chicago Celebrity Auction that Regina insists on going to is tonight. Truth be told, Emma is 100% against it.

But the look on Regina's face when she said she is _sick of hiding_…

Emma hears a gentle throat clearing right before she feels arms wrap around her from behind. "Good morning," comes the soft whisper against the back of her neck.

"Good morning to you," the blonde answers, turning slightly so she can see Regina. "How'd you sleep?"

"Surprisingly well, considering…"

"No worries. This place is like a compound. Ain't no one breaking in here," Emma comments, raising her coffee mug and motioning to the perimeter of the ranch.

"True," Regina says in return. She moves from Emma towards the coffee pot, dressed only in an oversized white t-shirt and white cotton panties, so uncharacteristically _Regina_, and pours herself a mug, as if she's been living with Emma since day one. She glances at the blonde over the rim of the mug and raises her eyebrows before taking a sip. "What?" she asks.

"You look good," Emma nods in Regina's direction and smiles. "I could get used to this."

"Yeah, well, this pool house is too hot. I don't know how you've survived without air conditioning."

Emma leaves her post and takes three steps towards Regina, laying a hand on her cheek as she looks at the woman. "Well, I wasn't having insanely hot sex in here, so I never really noticed before." She smiles when she sees Regina's cheeks flush a deep red. "Not that I minded any of it…"

Regina leans forward and places her lips on Emma's while wrapping her free arm around the blonde's neck. "You certainly know your way around my body," she says against pink lips.

"Yeah, well," Emma starts, moving her hand down to take Regina's mug and set it on the countertop behind them. She backs Regina up to the counter, runs a hand down her side, up under the soft material of the t-shirt and along the waistband of Regina's panties. "I have definitely loved getting to know the lay of the land," she whispers, slipping her hand under the waistband and down, down, down, until her fingers slide through Regina's already wet center.

"Jesus," Regina breathes, bracing herself against the countertop, one hand on Emma and the other wrapped tightly around the edge of the granite.

Emma's finger slips easily inside of Regina and she feels the woman tighten around her almost instantly. It's when she slips a second finger inside does she feel Regina open a little wider, feels her hands and arms hold onto her a little tighter, and then as Emma starts to pump ever so slowly, she is rewarded with the softest, lowest, _sexiest_ moan she has yet to hear from Regina's beautiful, dark lips. "Fuck," Emma whispers, as she slides in and out of Regina's wetness, the waistband of the panties just tight enough to keep the heel of Emma's palm in constant contact with the brunette's clit. And she knows Regina is close when her head leans back and she exposes that fucking _beautiful _neck. Emma places her tongue at the base and licks her way all the way up to Regina's chin, over it to her mouth. "Kiss me," she says against Regina's lips. "Kiss me while you come. I know you're close."

"God, Emma," Regina pushes her words out into Emma's mouth as their lips start moving against each other's.

Emma feels Regina tighten around her fingers and then Regina is moaning into her mouth as she comes. Her nails dig into Emma's shoulders as Emma holds onto Regina and then her body goes slightly limp while she pants against Emma's lips.

"What the hell?" Regina says between breaths, a small chuckle escaping her mouth at the end. "That's… yeah… wow…"

Emma smiles as she pulls her hand from Regina's panties and then glances down to see it glistening in the daylight. "Someone was very wet," Emma teases as she pulls Regina close and places a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Yeah, well, you made me that way," Regina responds, bringing her hands up to push into her dark hair. "You are incredible, Emma."

"No," Emma whispers. "You are."

Regina leans forward, kisses Emma once and then twice before pulling away and looking at her. "Are you okay about tonight?"

Emma shakes her head 'no' and looks away from the brunette. "But I know it means a lot to you to not hide."

"Emma," Regina starts, taking two fingers under Emma's chin and softly guiding her face back so she can look at the blonde. "Do you really think something bad will happen?"

Emma doesn't respond right away. She looks into Regina's dark eyes, the way the light is hitting them just right. She knows she should tell this woman that she has a bad feeling, that this is too soon to _put on a brave face_, that this is exactly what this asshole is probably expecting, but she stays silent, keeps her eyes and face as stoic as possible.

"Emma, dear, you have to understand something about me… Can I tell you?" Regina waits for Emma's head nod and then says, "I have worked so hard to get to this point in my career. And even if _this _life, _this _fame, isn't what I _want, _it's what I _have _and I can't just roll over and let someone else take it from me. When I walk away, I want it to be because _I said so._ Do you know that up until two years ago, every show I had ever been on had been canceled?" Regina takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "This new show could be the thing to actually make it work for my career and while there are times I hate this life, the idea that I might _actually _succeed? It is a really amazing thought. So, I can't walk away. Not yet."

Emma can see the determination written all over Regina's face, so she gathers up her courage and takes a deep breath before she says, "Okay. But no being a renegade. You listen to every single thing I tell you, okay?"

"I promise, Emma. I promise."

"You're gonna drive me crazy, you know that, right?"

Regina laughs as she pulls Emma into a hug and runs her hands down the blonde's toned arms. "Yeah, well, I'll take care of _you _then," she quips as they continue to hug each other in the pool house kitchen.

* * *

><p>When Archie comes out of the garage with his coat on and his shoes shined, Emma smiles and remembers the very first time she went on an outing with him. "You look good," she says as he strides up to her and adjusts his glasses.<p>

"I almost forgot how to put this earpiece on," he comments, motioning to his sleeve and ear at the same time. He looks at her and smiles, pats her on the shoulder, and asks, "You nervous?"

"Yes," Emma replies, matter-of-factly. She straightens her skinny black tie and looks at him square in the face. "Is this thing straight? I haven't worn a tie in ages."

He takes the knot in his left hand and straightens it a little before looking at her, his hands on both of her shoulders now. "You have to settle down, Emma. You're going to be fine; she's going to be fine. You can't lose your composure now."

"I know, Archie," Emma breathes, looking down and anywhere but at his eyes. "I just, she's… It's _Regina_, and now it's more than she's_ just a celebrity_ and I _can't… _What if… what if I'm not on my game tonight?" Her voice cracks and she's trying her hardest to hold it together.

"Emma Swan," Archie starts, removing his hands from her shoulders and then folding his arms across his chest. "You realize you protected the President of the United States, right?" He smiles. "The President. POTUS. You. _Protected_. Him."

"I know and I got _shot_."

"But _he_ didn't," Archie responds with no hesitation. "Stop. Calm down. You're fine."

August and David come strolling up to the two of them, dressed exactly the same as Archie, except for they're both wearing aviator sunglasses, and smile in unison.

"Emma freaking out?" August asks as he punches her on the arm.

"Nope, not at all. She just needed a reminder that she's fine."

David smiles before saying with a head nod, "BAMF, right?"

"BAMF?" Archie questions, his brow furrowing and his head tilted to the side.

"Bad Ass Mother Fucker." August laughs at Archie's raised eyebrows and wide eyes and then puts an arm around Emma's shoulders. "We got this, babe. We got this."

"We're looking for a man that's limping around like an asshole, right? You shot the son of a bitch, Em. And we will be stationed in the right areas. Do not worry about this. We will not let this dick get past us," David explains, reassuring her as much as possible. "And besides, it's been awhile since we've all worked together like this. It's like being back on the police force again."

Emma finally cracks a smile and looks between August and David. "That's true," she finally replies, letting herself relax just the tiniest of bits into August's side. "I'm just nervous and I don't know why."

"Because you love her," David smiles, nods his head and reaches out to pat Emma on the arm.

"David," Emma tries to protest and then feels August squeeze her a little tighter.

"It's okay. We won't let anything happen to her tonight," August says with another squeeze before he releases her. "Now come on. We have to get this show on the road. Don't want to be late."

"Hey," Emma starts. "I thought I was the boss here?"

August turns as he's walking away from her and slides his sunglasses on. "You are. I'm your kick ass assistant today."

Archie leans into Emma and nudges her. "I thought that was my job?" he whispers, obviously joking, but still a little hurt.

Emma smiles as she looks at Archie. "You are, my friend. You absolutely are. He's just an asshole," she laughs as they walk towards the car and ready themselves for Regina and Ruby.

* * *

><p>"I'll stay at her side the entire time," Emma explains as she leans forward into the front of the limousine. "August, you're on my 12 o'clock and David, you're on my six. Copy?"<p>

"Roger that," David almost shouts.

"Jesus," August laughs. "Calm down, David." He looks back at Emma through the partition. "We got it, Em. Earpiece on and active?" They all three check their earpieces and sleeve mics and give each other knowing looks.

"And remember, if you see that asshole, Killian, just fucking shoot the bastard," Emma says as she pulls her gun out of the holster, ejects the clip and checks it. She snaps it back into place and looks up at Regina, who is watching with wonder, and obviously a little fear. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," Regina answers, her hands folded in her lap. "Just ready to get this evening over with."

"Ruby, you good with keeping an eye on things from the back of the room?" Emma asks, watching Regina's eyes travel from hers to Ruby and then back to hers.

"For sure," Ruby answers, her thumb flipping into the air. "I'm better at a distance anyway."

Emma takes a deep breath as they all fall silent in the car. She reaches up and casually fixes her tie, glances out the window, does as much as possible with as little movement as possible, and tries her hardest to calm the_ fuck_ down. She feels the car shift and then looks up to see Regina moving across the cabin of the limo to the seat next to her. "Regina, you need to be ready to -"

"Stop," Regina cuts her off. "Stop." She places her hand on Emma's face and steadies the blonde until they're looking at each other. "I love you."

Emma swallows once and blinks away the tears that are springing to her eyes. "I love you, too," she whispers, feeling Ruby's eyes on them, but not even caring right now.

"I know you do," Regina replies, her voice low, soft, and she leans forward and places a soft kiss on Emma's lips. She pulls away and trails her fingertips down the blonde's cheek and neck and stops right over her heart. "I trust you."

"Okay."

"We're here, Emma," Archie says from the front of the limo.

Emma feels her heart thump loudly as she glances out the window and then back at Regina. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I know, my love. You're my bodyguard, after all," she comments with a smile and then a small laugh. "Let's do this."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"All clear from the backstage, Em."

"Roger that. David, report?"

"All clear from the balcony. No Killian. No limping assholes. We're good."

Emma feels herself relax slightly before she lays a soft hand on Regina's arm and guides her through the doors of the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton. "We're clear," she comments as she walks with Regina, her eyes never leaving the crowd of people. "Ruby, change of plans. I need you up here with me. I'll have David check the back of the room."

Ruby complies and walks alongside Regina as they approach a group of Regina's co-stars that immediately shout and hoot as the brunette gets nearer. She looks at Emma, almost as if she's asking permission and Emma nods her okay. She stands back as Regina rushes over to them, immediately receiving hugs and kisses on the cheek. Emma knows they were all worried Regina wouldn't come back after the incident at the Chicago Comic Con event. And when news hit about the LA press junket, all of her co-stars started calling and asking if she was going to continue filming. And at that time, Regina honestly didn't know and Emma didn't know if she'd let her. But as the brunette laughed and smiled with the group of men and women of all ages, Emma knew this really did make her happy - even if the lifestyle of being a famous actress wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Emma felt her pocket buzz, pulled out her cell phone, and slid her finger across the screen after she saw that she had a missed call from Henry. Her heart immediately lodged into her throat as she fidgeted with her phone and pulled up Henry's cell number. She held her free hand up to her ear and tried to hear as the other line kept ringing.

He finally picked up and shouted, "EMMA!"

"Henry, what's wrong?!"

"It's not Killian!"

"What? Henry? What are you talking about?!" Emma swung around and moved towards a more quiet area in the ballroom. "What do you mean? How do you know that?"

"It's not him, Emma. It's not. I know who it is!"

"Henry, kid, how in the world -"

"It's my aunt! It's my Aunt Zelena!"

"What are you talking about, Henry? How could it be your aunt?" Emma turned and found Regina in the crowd, Ruby standing guard about ten paces away from her.

"Because I was looking at pictures for this stupid project that Mary Margaret has me doing for school and I found a picture of her and my mom and they're standing in front of a maroon Ford Bronco!" Henry shouts. "Isn't that what you said the car was in Colorado?!"

"Henry, calm down," Emma says firmly. "I need you to take a picture of that picture and send it to me right now. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, I'll do that."

"Where's Mary Margaret?"

"She's right here."

"Let me talk to her," Emma says calmly, hears the phone switch hands and then immediately says, "Mary Margaret, could this be right?"

"Yes, Emma, I cannot believe we never thought about it before. She's always been jealous of Regina. _Always_."

"Send me a close-up picture of her. I don't even know what she looks like, Mary Margaret. Get off the phone. Send me the pics. Keep Henry calm, please."

"I will," Mary Margaret says firmly. "Emma?"

"What?"

"Be careful. Please."

"Will do," Emma says as she drops the phone from her ear and quickly disconnects. Within seconds she has two new texts with pictures attached. The first one is definitely of Regina and a woman with red hair standing in front of a maroon Ford Bronco. The same exact color of the one that she saw that day outside the ranch and quite possibly the same one from Colorado. _Red hair… _ _Holy shit… _The next one is a close-up of Zelena, red hair blowing in the wind. Emma quickly forwards the picture of just Zelena to Archie, August and David, brings her sleeve up to her mouth and says, "Boys, we have a lead. Keep your eyes peeled for this woman."

Archie responds first with a calm, "Emma, this is Regina's sister."

"I know," Emma replies, her voice low. "Check your phone." She sends the other picture of the Ford Bronco and then says, "That's the car. It's her."

"Emma?" Archie asks.

"What?"

"I'm looking at the car right now. It's in the parking garage."

Emma feels her heartbeat start to quicken. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No," Archie answers. "I was walking around the garage, checking the perimeter. It's on the third level of the garage on the corner of Harrison and Jackson. I parked in the lower level because that's where Valet directed me. Emma, oh, God."

"Archie, what is it?"

"There are bullet holes in the back."

"Fuck," Emma whispers. "That's it. That's the car. August, David, she's here!"

"Okay, Em, balcony still clear," David answers. "I'll stay vigilant."

"August?" Emma asks, but he doesn't answer. "August?!" Still not answer. "David, August isn't answering."

"I'm on it," David immediately responds.

Emma leaves her post alongside the back wall and makes her way towards Ruby. "It's Regina's sister," Emma whispers to her. "I forwarded you the picture. Keep your eyes peeled."

Ruby looks at Emma and then down at her phone and then back at Emma. "Are you kidding me?"

"No," Emma replies, her eyes locking onto Ruby's. "Keep your fucking eyes _peeled_, Rubes."

Ruby clears her throat and nods her head. She immediately starts scanning the crowd as Emma takes a couple steps towards Regina.

"I found him," David's voice comes across the earpiece. "He's okay."

"Sorry, Em, was in a bad spot, had to turn my mic off because it was causing interference with the headsets backstage."

"Okay." Emma looks at Regina and then back at Ruby. "The event is going to start in three minutes. Let's get into place." She takes the final steps towards Regina and touches her elbow gently. "Regina, we need to get you to your seat."

Regina looks back at Emma and smiles, runs her hand down Emma's arm to her hand and intertwines their fingers. "Okay," Regina replies, her eyes never leaving Emma's. Her co-stars exchange looks, which Emma notices and tosses a weary glance over her shoulder. She escorts Regina to her seat, constantly staying alert. She motions for Ruby to come and sit next to Regina and feels a hand latch onto her arm. "Emma, what's going on?"

"Just taking some extra precautions," Emma answers, trying to sound as calm, cool, and collected as possible.

"I'm not stupid, Miss Swan. Please don't treat me as such."

Emma glances down at Regina, the _Miss Swan _making it glaringly obvious that Regina knows something is up. The brunette's one hand is gripping the armrest of her seat, the other one is still wrapped around Emma's wrist. "Okay," she starts, squatting down next to Regina. "Your 'he' is a 'she' and she's here."

Regina immediately sits up straighter and starts to look around almost frantically. "What are you talking about? Where?"

Emma places her hand on Regina's calf muscle and squeezes it lightly. "Stop, Regina, just calm down. Everything is under control. When you go up to present, I will be watching. I have August and David posted. And Ruby will be there, too. It's okay."

"Who is it, Emma? How did you find this out? It's not Killian?"

"He might be involved, but he's not the person from the cabin."

"Who is it then?" Regina looks at Emma, locks onto her eyes and waits a beat for an answer. "Emma. Who is it?"

"We think," Emma takes a deep breath, "That it's your sister."

"Zelena?" Regina hisses.

"Maroon Ford Bronco?" Emma says as she hands Regina her phone, the picture displayed.

Regina's eyes go wide and her mouth falls open slightly and her hand reaches up to cover it. "Oh, my God," comes her muffled reply. "Emma, I didn't even… Oh, my God…"

"Look at me," Emma urges, taking her phone from Regina and sliding it back into her pocket. "We have this under control. I promise."

"Emma…"

"Regina, trust me, okay?" Emma watches Regina as she sits back a tiny bit in her chair as Ruby slides into the seat next to her. "You keep her safe. You hear me?"

Ruby nods her head and says, "Of course. I promise. I have my gun strapped to my thigh, too, so I'm packing heat. I won't let anything happen to her."

Emma smiles at Ruby and then squeezes Regina's leg again before she stands up. "I'll be right over there."

"Okay," Regina whispers, her hand still gripping Emma's. "Please be careful."

"I will be. I promise," Emma replies, her eyes locked onto the brunette's dark ones. "No wardrobe malfunctions while I'm gone, okay?"

Regina cracks a small smile and gives Emma's hand another squeeze before she walks away. Emma's hand slides between her suit jacket and her gun holster to the grip of the weapon. She undoes the clasp that holds the gun in place and then brings her sleeve up to her mouth. "August, David, Archie, do you copy?" When she gets three responses, she takes her post next to the stage and in the shadows. "Regina goes on in 20 minutes. I'll be backstage when she does. I need your eyes out here now, August and David."

"Roger that," comes their voices almost in unison. She sees them both enter the ballroom and signal to her from their opposite posts. She makes eye contact with Ruby and then with Regina before the show starts.

* * *

><p>Emma can feel Regina's fingernails digging into her arm almost through her jacket. She looks over at the brunette while they stand backstage, waiting for Regina's turn to present. "Breathe. It's going to be fine."<p>

"I thought I was the one that wanted to go through with this," Regina says, half accusatory and the other half insanely nervous.

"You don't have to go on," Emma says as they stand backstage together, the make-up people flitting around Regina, making sure her final touches are flawless.

"Yes," the brunette starts, her eyes very serious. "I do. She's not winning this."

"Miss Mills, you're on," comes the backstage director. "We need you now."

"I'm right here," Emma encourages and then watches as Regina starts walking onto the stage. The crowd goes wild, fans yelling and screaming, a few of her co-stars also shouting that _Mills is a MILF_ and other random terms that enrage Emma slightly, but only because she's so protective now. She can see Regina perfectly from her spot and can also see the entire audience with little trouble.

"Good evening!" Regina says into the microphone as the noise from the audience subsides. "Thank you all so much for attending the Chicago Celebrity Auction. All proceeds tonight go to Lurie Children's Hospital, so the fact that we have already raised $50,000 is outstanding!" The crowd goes wild and Regina smiles and raises her hands in the air to get the audience to quiet down. "Tonight not only are we auctioning off many different items, but we're also auctioning off a couple of passes for fans to be on set during filming of my new show, _Storybrooke Confidential_." Again the audience goes nuts.

Emma brings her sleeve to her mouth. "Any movement?"

"There is a lot of movement, Emma. The crowd is going nuts for her," David says, his voice definitely shaking with adrenaline.

"Em, I have nothing. Everything looks - wait," August says, calmly. "Balcony. Two o'clock. Red head, woman. I'm on my way up to check it."

Emma moves further onto stage left and checks her two o'clock. "Oh, _shit_! August, don't!" Emma shouts as she sees the gun on the balcony aiming for Regina. She takes off onto the stage and pulls her gun from the holster in one clean movement. The crowd starts shouting, yelling _GUN!_ and then two shots fire just as Emma leaps in front of Regina, pulling the brunette down to the ground with her. Emma feels one of the shots hit her on the right side, but she pulls her gun up and aims as the woman stands. Emma fires her gun twice and watches as the woman collapses.

"EMMA! Oh, my God, Emma! Someone call 911!"

Emma looks up at Regina and hears someone shout that _there's so much blood!_ She blinks her eyes twice. "I'm sorry," Emma whispers, then coughs as the familiar taste of iron fills her mouth.

"Emma, oh baby, don't leave me. Please don't leave me," Regina shouts. "Get off of me!" She shouts at people that are trying to pull her off of Emma. "It's not my blood! It's hers!"

"Emma!" August shouts as he slides across the stage on his knees. "Emma!"

The last thing Emma sees is the bright white of the lights and Regina bending over her.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**2 weeks later**

"Do you need help with that?"

Emma looks up from trying to get the shoulder sling she's been ordered by her doctor to wear every day attached correctly. Ruby is standing in the doorway of their Chicago home and she's clearly trying to not annoy Emma, which makes Emma's heart swell. "Yeah, that'd be nice," Emma responds, her voice cracking just a bit.

Ruby walks over towards the blonde, lays a hand on her shoulder softly and then smiles. "You know I don't mind helping… whenever you need it…"

"I know," Emma nods. She watches as Ruby's hands tighten a couple straps and then adjusts the velcro belt that goes around her ribcage. The first bullet that Zelena shot ended up nicking the outside of her arm, but the second one was a direct hit right through her left shoulder. The bullet went clean through and was a centimeter away from striking the brachial artery. If the bullet would have hit that artery… Damn. Things would have been a lot different.

"How's that feel? Too tight?"

"It's fine." Emma tries to pull down on the white v-neck t-shirt she has on under the brace. She shrugs her shoulder and feels a pain shoot through it and down her arm. She breathes in sharply and glances up at Ruby, hoping she doesn't notice.

"Emma, you need to take those pain pills the doctor gave you."

"I'm fine, Rubes," Emma replies, her eyes never looking directly at Ruby. "I'm fine."

"Are you?" Ruby asks when Emma walks past her and tries to escape from the bedroom where they're standing. "Because you've been home for a week and you don't seem fine at all."

Emma stops in her tracks and stands there, not looking back, and takes a deep breath. She feels tears sting the backs of her eyes, reaches her free hand up to the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut. "I got shot, Rubes. I'll be okay eventually."

"You know she misses you. You can go back… She wants you to -"

"Ruby," Emma says, cutting her friend off. "I know, okay?"

"Then what are you waiting for? Why are you being like this? She was at the hospital every day while you were unconscious, Emma. Every single day. And now you're not even going to go see her? That's fucking bullshit." Ruby folds her arms across her chest and shakes her head. "I am so disappointed in you, Emma."

Emma turns slowly around to look at Ruby, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm scared, okay? I'm fucking _scared_."

"Of _what_?"

"Of being shot again! Of breathing! Of dying!" Emma rips her hand through her hair. "Of losing her!"

"You make no fucking sense. You know that, right?" Ruby says softly as she walks over towards Emma and pulls the blonde into a hug. "You're gonna lose her if you don't go see her, you stubborn asshole."

Emma sniffles against Ruby's shoulder and lets out a small laugh. "I know," she whispers.

Ruby pulls back from Emma, her hands lightly on the blonde's shoulders, and looks her in the eyes. "I will drive you. I don't mind."

"You hate going to Indiana."

"Yeah, well, I miss them, too, you know. You can't just let me get attached to these people and then decide they're no longer a part of our lives."

"Our lives, eh?"

"Yes, _our lives_." Ruby walks over to the closet and opens the door, a packed duffle bag sitting on the floor. She picks it up and slings it over her shoulder. "Let's go."

"Ruby, what the hell? You packed a bag already?"

"Yes, you asshole. Let's go. I already texted Henry that we'll be there for dinner and to put some pizzas in the oven."

Emma rolls her eyes. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Yeah, well, after I talked to Regina yesterday and heard her voice…" Ruby's voice trails off and she pauses, adjusts the duffle bag over her shoulder and takes a few steps while pulling on Emma's free hand. "Come on, let's go."

"No, what were you going to say?"

"Emma, she loves you. She's_ in love_ with you." Ruby pulls a final time on Emma's hand and then smiles. "And I know you're in love with her, so come on. Stop being a bodyguard and start being a human being."

Emma feels herself smile as she lets herself be pulled by Ruby through the house and out the front door.

* * *

><p>"Swan," Emma says into her phone, riding shotgun in the bug as Ruby flies down the expressway towards Indiana.<p>

"Well, Miss Swan, I was calling to check up on you. I heard about what happened."

"Oh, Mr. President," Emma says, her voice laced with shock. "Thank you so much for calling." She tries to sit a little straighter, as if he can see her, and instantly regrets it due to the pain shooting through her arm.

"Of course, Emma. How are you feeling? I know you're no stranger to gunshot wounds," Adam Gold says, the hint of smile showing through his tone of voice.

Emma smiles and looks out the window of the bug. "I am recovering nicely," she responds.

"That's wonderful news. Do you need anything? You know I have quite a bit of pull, being the President of the United States does have it perks." A laugh follows his words and Emma can't help but chuckle right along with him.

"No, sir; thank you, though."

"You're not wallowing in self-pity now, are you?" Adam Gold's voice is coated with the fatherly tone he picked up while dealing with Emma Swan. "There's no need to be scared. You did your job. _Again_. And you did it well. _Again_."

"Mr. President -"

"Emma Swan, you listen to me. This is an order. You pull yourself together and get back on that horse. Life, my dear, is not a spectator sport. And you've been in the stands and not on the field for way too long."

Emma feels her throat tighten and her eyes start filling with tears for the 100th time that day. "Yes, sir," she says softly, leaning her head back on the headrest.

"You take care of yourself, Miss Swan."

"I will." Emma hears the phone disconnect and then hangs up, looking over at Ruby instantly. "The President, eh?"

"If there's anyone you'd listen to I knew it'd be him. Besides, I still keep in touch with Belle."

Emma smiles at her, "Do you always keep in touch with old college roommates like that?"

"Just her," Ruby comments, her voice soft and her eyes definitely holding a secret she'll never tell. "I'm glad he called."

"Me, too." Emma focuses her attention back on the road in front of them and takes a deep breath. She was nervous and scared and excited, all at the same time. She knew Regina had been there at her side for days while she was unconscious, but when the doctors released her… Truth be told, Emma didn't know what to do. She knew deep down she should have called Regina immediately, but she didn't. She called Ruby and that was the end of it.

And she hated to admit the reason why.

Emma Swan was scared and she didn't get _scared_. Fear was something she laughed in the face of and now she was scared out of her fucking mind. Did Regina really want her? Did this really need to happen? Ruby had told her how Regina had been after seeing Zelena's lifeless body and it made Emma's stomach turn. She had killed Regina's sister… her family… her only living family. And now what?

"Get out of your head," Ruby says from the driver's seat of the bug. "You gotta stop over analyzing this whole thing."

"Rubes, that's like, _impossible_," Emma breathes, closing her eyes and listening to soothing sounds of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals sing throughout her car. _My lonely heart is made for two; it beats too slowly without you... _And it was the truest thing she had ever heard.

* * *

><p>"Emma Swan, as I live and breathe," came the security guard, Doc from the entry gate. "I thought you were long gone. It's good to see you again."<p>

Emma smiles from the passenger seat of the car and waves. "Glad to see you're still standing guard," she says with a nod. "Any new happenings?"

"Nothing new to report, ma'am." He tips his hat at her and then buzzes the gate open. "You take care now. It's good to have you back."

"Thanks, Doc," Emma semi-shouts as Ruby pulls through the gate and steers the bug down the long road into the ranch. Emma can tell that the landscaping company is still coming to take care of the bushes and shrubs, make sure they are all trimmed back and she can see all the security cameras clearly. It makes her happy to know all of her hard work didn't fall to the wayside.

When they pull up to the garage, Archie picks his head up from the inside of the hood of the Rolls and instantly his face lights up. "Well, look what the cat dragged in," he shouts as Ruby turns the bug off and they get out of the car. Emma holds out her hand to Archie, hoping he shakes it, but it thoroughly surprises her when he wraps his arm around her and gives her a very big hug, careful not to disrupt her shoulder and arm. "I've missed you, boss."

Emma laughs into Archie's chest and then looks up at him. "I've missed you, too, my friend."

"Did you hear? They found Killian. He was hiding out in the warehouse in Chicago where he and Zelena plotted everything. The place was like a shrine. Pictures plastered on the walls. I saw pictures. It was creepy, Emma."

"I did hear," she answers, nodding her head. "And I heard Sidney came begging for his job back?"

Archie laughs and bounces on his toes. "Yep. He'll be back on after a thorough background check. David and August are looking into everyone that has been hired in the last three years. Even I had to go through a check."

Emma raises her eyebrows and then laughs. "What'd they find on you?"

"Nothing! I'm clean! You know that," Archie protests, his hands in the air.

"What about Robin?"

"She told him to never come back," Archie practically whispers. "It was wonderful."

"I bet," Emma laughs. "He was a strange one..."

"Agreed," Ruby says from behind Emma and when Archie and Emma both look at her, she says, "What? He tried to hit on me! _Twice_!"

"Emma! EMMA!"

Emma turns and sees Henry racing out the front door towards her, his brown hair flopping as he runs. "Henry," Emma breathes as he approaches and then slams into her good side. "Hey, kid."

"I am so happy you're home!"

Emma feels her heart tighten in her chest. "Me, too, kid. Me, too." She looks up and sees David and Mary Margaret walking towards them, his arm around her shoulders. "Never left, eh?"

"Someone had to stay behind and make sure they were all safe," David says with a smile as he tugs playfully on a lock of her hair. "August stayed, too."

"True American heroes," Emma laughs, her arm still wrapped around Henry. "Where is he?"

"He went to pick up pizza," Henry answers, looking up at Emma. "Mom doesn't know… it's a surprise."

Emma feels her heartbeat start to quicken at the mention of Regina. "Where -"

"Horse stables." Mary Margaret reaches out a hand and places it on Emma's arm. "You should go by yourself."

"Okay," Emma replies, her mouth suddenly very dry. She takes a couple steps away and then looks over her shoulder at them all. "Feels good to be back."

* * *

><p>When Emma rounds the corner into the stables, she can hear Regina talking to the horses and it makes her heart clench in her chest. She takes a couple steps until she can see Regina's backside as she's bending over while brushing Rocinante. "Need any help?"<p>

Regina gasps and stands bolt upright while clutching her chest. "Jesus _Christ_!"

Emma can't fight back the laugh at Regina's expense. "Oh, shit, Regina, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Well, Emma! You did! What the hell?!"

"I am _really_ sorry!" Emma shouts, still laughing, as she takes a couple steps closer to Regina. "I really am. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Dammit," Regina breathes, her hand still clutching her chest. "That was… Dammit. Emma."

Emma takes the final two steps before she's standing in front of Regina. "I'm sorry," she whispers.

"What are you doing here?" Regina finally asks, her facial expression softening. She takes off her riding gloves and reaches over casually, placing them and the horse brush on the shelf beside them.

"Ruby," Emma answers. "I'm sorry… Regina-"

"Stop," Regina cuts the blonde off. "Just stop." She touches Emma's shoulder softly, keeps her eyes away from the blonde's, moves her hand from the shoulder to the arm and then down to the brace. "I'm so sorry. You could have _died._"

"It was my job," Emma whispers, her voice cracking.

"Not anymore," Regina says flatly.

Emma raises an eyebrow and tilts her head. "You're firing me for saving your life?"

"Yes," Regina answers as she takes a step and moves around Emma.

"What the hell, Regina?"

"Emma, look," Regina starts, her hands flitting around, "if you're going to be my girlfriend, I'm not going to have you -"

"Wait." Emma hurries up behind Regina and grabs her arm. "Your girlfriend?"

"Yes, Emma, my _girlfriend_."

Emma smiles. "You want me to be your girlfriend?"

Regina's cheeks fill with red and she looks down at the ground, scuffing the toe of her boot into the dirt. "Well, yeah," she says softly before looking up into Emma's green eyes. "And if you're going to go to these events on my arm, you can't be protecting me, as well."

"Okay," Emma replies, a smile forming on her pink lips. "That makes sense."

Regina closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "You scared me, Emma Swan."

"I know and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snuck up on you."

A small smile comes to Regina's lips, eyes open, when she says, "No, not now… I mean… I thought…" Regina pauses, her eyes glassy with tears. "There was so much blood. And you…"

"Stop," Emma urges as she steps forward and places her free hand on Regina's face. "I'm not dead. I'm here. I'm right here." She leans in and nudges Regina's nose with hers and their lips finally meet. Emma kisses her softly, silently promising to not ever leave again. "It's your turn to take care of me now," she says against Regina's full lips.

Regina smiles and a laugh escapes from her throat as she leans into Emma's kiss again. "It sure is," she says between kisses. "It sure is."

THE END


End file.
